January 29, 2010 - EI

The author of Dying young: variation in life history across English neighborhoods and living fast, David Nettle, Centre for Behaviour and Evolution, Institute of Neuroscience, New Castle University examines maternal behavioral responses across neighborhood environments having different levels of poverty. Dr. Nettle’s evolutionary hypothesis is that mothers should follow faster reproductive and child rearing strategies to adapt to higher rates of mortality and morbidity, giving birth to more offspring at earlier stages of life history and providing less parental investment per child. Hence, increasing levels of poverty in neighborhoods should be related to measurable detrimental effects on offspring. Indicators of unhealthy physiological and psychological effects in offspring collected across English neighborhoods at varying levels of poverty confirm Dr. Nettles hypothesis.