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Marital Dissolution And Child Educational Outcomes In San Borja, Bolivia, Kristin Snopkowski

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Purpose: Serial monogamy is likely an adaptive mating strategy for women when the expected future fitness gains with a different partner are greater than expected future fitness with one’s current partner.

Methods: Using interview data from over 400 women in San Borja, Bolivia, discrete-time event history analyses and random effects regression analyses are conducted to examine predictors of marital dissolution, separated by remarriage status, and child educational outcomes.

Results: Male income is inversely associated with women’s risk of ‘divorce and remarriage’, while female income is positively associated with women’s risk of ‘divorce, but not remarriage’. Children of women who …

What Do Men Want? Re-Examining Whether Men Benefit From Higher Fertility Than Is Optimal For Women, Cristina Moya, Kristin Snopkowski, Rebecca Sear

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Several empirical observations suggest that when women have more autonomy over their reproductive decisions, fertility is lower. Some evolutionary theorists have interpreted this as evidence for sexual conflicts of interest, arguing that higher fertility is more adaptive for men than women. We suggest the assumptions underlying these arguments are problematic: assuming that women suffer higher costs of reproduction than men neglects the (different) costs of reproduction for men; the assumption that men can repartner is often false. We use simple models to illustrate that 1) men or women can prefer longer interbirth intervals (IBIs), 2) if men can only partner …

Pathways From Education To Fertility Decline: A Multi-Site Comparative Study, Kristin Snopkowski, Mary C. Towner, Mary K. Shenk, Heidi Colleran

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Women’s education has emerged as a central predictor of fertility decline, but the multiple possible mechanisms by which education can affect fertility have not been subject to detailed comparative investigation across multiple sites. In this paper, we use structural equation modelling to examine potential pathways between education and fertility in three different geographic locations: Matlab, Bangladesh; San Borja, Bolivia; and rural Poland. Using a comparable set of variables we show that the pathways by which education affects fertility differ in important ways, yet also show key similarities. In particular, we find that across all three contexts, education affects age at …

The Effects Of Wealth On Male Reproduction Among Monogamous Hunter-Fisher-Trappers In Northern Siberia, John P. Ziker, David A. Nolin, Joellie Rasmussen

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Variability in men’s reproductive success (RS) is partly attributable to the ability of successful men to influence resource flows relevant to the mate choice and reproduction of women. This study explores the effects of variability in resource flows on men’s RS in an indigenous foraging/mixed-economy community in northern Siberia where monogamous marriage norms predominate. A series of material, embodied, and relational wealth indicators are tested as predictors of men’s age-adjusted RS and age at first birth. Material wealth related to hunting, embodied wealth as represented by hunting skill, and relational wealth as represented by numbers of kin are the most …

Does Grandparental Help Mediate The Relationship Between Kin Presence And Fertility?, Kristin Snopkowski, Rebecca Sear

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

BACKGROUND

Previous research suggests that kin availability may be correlated with reproductive outcomes, but it is not clear that a causal relationship underlies these findings. Further, there is substantial variation in how kin availability is measured.

OBJECTIVE

We attempt to identify whether different measures of kin availability influence how kin affect reproductive outcomes and whether the effect of kin on reproductive outcomes is driven by the help that they provide.

METHODS

Using data from the Indonesia Family Life Survey (1993, 1997, 2000, 2007), we compare the survival of parents and parents-in-law, their co-residence, geographic proximity, contact frequency, and helping behavior …