TY - JOUR
T1 - Environmental stress and human life history strategy development in rural and peri-urban South India
AU - Richardson, George B.
AU - Placek, Caitlyn
AU - Srinivas, Vijaya
AU - Jayakrishna, Poornima
AU - Quinlan, Robert
AU - Madhivanan, Purnima
N1 - Funding Information:
C. P. was funded by the Global Health Equity Scholars Training grant from the Fogarty International Center at the National Institutes of Health [training grant # TW009338 ]. The funders had no role in the study design, conduct, collection, management, analysis, or interpretation of the data, preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2020/5
Y1 - 2020/5
N2 - Few studies have examined the role of early vs. later environment in the development of life history (LH) strategies, whether age at sexual debut mediates LH development, or whether LH indicators contribute to environmental stress in adulthood. In the current study, we addressed these gaps cross-culturally using data from Jenu Kurubas who live in the rural outskirts of Mysore (n = 133), India, and mixed-caste peri-urban residents in Mysore city (n = 222). Research took place from October 2016–July 2017. First, participants engaged in semi-structured interviews to formulate quantitative measures of current environmental stress (n = 60). Next, participants (n = 355) completed structured questionnaires that measured demographics; early and current environmental stress; and LH indicators including age at sexual debut, facets of impulsivity, education, and number of children. Structural equation modeling was used to test for the developmental cascade reported in Western studies of psychosocial acceleration (e.g., indirect effect of early environmental stress on number of children through age at sexual debut). Consistent with Western findings, environmental stress appeared to hasten sexual debut, decrease self-regulation and educational attainment, and increase current environmental stress in the peri-urban sample. Early environmental stress forecasted younger age at sexual debut in both samples; however, no other effects of early environmental stress nor any associations with current environmental stress were consistent between samples. Although age at sexual debut appeared to translate early environmental stress into greater numbers of children and current environmental stress in the peri-urban and rural samples, respectively, it was associated with different outcomes between the samples and forecasted adult environment only in the rural sample. Taken together, our findings indicate more research is needed to determine whether the developmental cascade suggested by most applications of LH theory to humans generalizes across cultures and rural and peri-urban environments.
AB - Few studies have examined the role of early vs. later environment in the development of life history (LH) strategies, whether age at sexual debut mediates LH development, or whether LH indicators contribute to environmental stress in adulthood. In the current study, we addressed these gaps cross-culturally using data from Jenu Kurubas who live in the rural outskirts of Mysore (n = 133), India, and mixed-caste peri-urban residents in Mysore city (n = 222). Research took place from October 2016–July 2017. First, participants engaged in semi-structured interviews to formulate quantitative measures of current environmental stress (n = 60). Next, participants (n = 355) completed structured questionnaires that measured demographics; early and current environmental stress; and LH indicators including age at sexual debut, facets of impulsivity, education, and number of children. Structural equation modeling was used to test for the developmental cascade reported in Western studies of psychosocial acceleration (e.g., indirect effect of early environmental stress on number of children through age at sexual debut). Consistent with Western findings, environmental stress appeared to hasten sexual debut, decrease self-regulation and educational attainment, and increase current environmental stress in the peri-urban sample. Early environmental stress forecasted younger age at sexual debut in both samples; however, no other effects of early environmental stress nor any associations with current environmental stress were consistent between samples. Although age at sexual debut appeared to translate early environmental stress into greater numbers of children and current environmental stress in the peri-urban and rural samples, respectively, it was associated with different outcomes between the samples and forecasted adult environment only in the rural sample. Taken together, our findings indicate more research is needed to determine whether the developmental cascade suggested by most applications of LH theory to humans generalizes across cultures and rural and peri-urban environments.
KW - Environment
KW - Impulsivity
KW - India
KW - Life history theory
KW - Sexual debut
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U2 - 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2020.03.003
DO - 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2020.03.003
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85082792907
SN - 1090-5138
VL - 41
SP - 244
EP - 252
JO - Evolution and Human Behavior
JF - Evolution and Human Behavior
IS - 3
ER -