Selection In Utero: A Biological Response to Mass Layoffs
Selection In Utero: A Biological Response to Mass Layoffs
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DOI：
10.1002/ajhb.21011
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发表时间：
2010-05-01
影响因子：
2.9
通讯作者：
Bruckner, Tim
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Catalano, Ralph;Zilko, Claire E. Margerison;Bruckner, Tim
大多数描述失业的生物反应的研究似乎都是出于临床或公共卫生问题的适当动机，并重点关注死亡、疾病和医疗保健。我们认为，扩大工作范围以包括其他成果可能有助于基础科学。例如，我们利用对大规模裁员的反应来区分压力人群中男女活产率低的两种解释。一种解释认为，环境压力会降低受孕的男性与女性的比例。另一种观点认为，母亲的压力反应会选择不利于子宫内的男性。我们表明，子宫内的选择可以更好地解释观察到的数据。我们的结论是，人类对经济环境的适应值得比现在更广泛的科学家进行审查。是。 J.哼。生物。 22:396-400, 2010。(C) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Most research describing the biological response to unemployment appears appropriately motivated by clinical or public health concerns and focuses on death, disease, and medical care. We argue that expanding the work to include other outcomes could contribute to basic science. As an example, we use the response to mass layoffs to discriminate between two explanations of low ratios of male to female live births in stressed populations. One explanation asserts that ambient stressors reduce the ratio of males to females conceived. The other argues that the maternal stress response selects against males in utero. We show that selection in utero better explains the observed data. We conclude that human adaptation to the economic environment deserves scrutiny from a wider array of scientists than it now receives. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 22:396-400, 2010. (C) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.