The limits to low fertility: A biosocial approach
The limits to low fertility: A biosocial approach
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DOI：
10.1111/j.1728-4457.2000.00209.x
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发表时间：
2000-06-01
影响因子：
2.5
通讯作者：
Foster, C
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Foster, C
鉴于许多工业化社会的生育率30年来一直低于更替水平，人口学家们在问，生育率是否会进一步下降，或者是否存在一个生育率不会下降的“底线”。一个关键的未解之谜是，生育动机中是否存在一个可变的生物成分，以确保我们继续繁殖。根据进化生物学、行为学、数量遗传学、发展心理生物学和心理学的证据，本文认为，我们进化的生物倾向是养育行为，而不是生孩子本身。人类具有独特的能力，能够意识到这种生物倾向，并将其转化为有意识的，但仍然基于生物学的生育动机。我们很可能已经达到了低生育率的极限，因为这种“养育的需要”，加上规范压力，确保大多数妇女都希望至少生育一个孩子。概述了生育动机的生物社会模型。
In light of 30 years of below-replacement fertility in many industrialized societies, demographers are asking whether fertility could drop even further, or whether there is a "floor" below which it will not fall. A key unanswered question is whether there may be a variable biological component to fertility motivation which ensures that we continue to reproduce. Drawing on evidence from evolutionary biology, ethology, quantitative genetics, developmental psychobiology, and psychology, the article argues that our evolved biological predisposition is toward nurturing behaviors, rather than having children per se. Humans have the unique ability to be aware of such biological predispositions and translate them into conscious, but nevertheless biologically based, fertility motivation. It is likely that we have already reached the limits to low fertility since this "need to nurture," in conjunction with normative pressures, ensures that the majority of women will want to bear at least one child. A sketch for a biosocial model of fertility motivation is outlined.