Biological and Physical Anthropology Commons^™

How Extrinsic Mortality Affects Age At Menarche And Fertility In A 1970 British Cohort, Kimberly Marie Neagle

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Extrinsic mortality is the likelihood of mortality that is not conditional on reproductive effort. It does not depend on a person’s behavior and cannot be changed by altering behavior. Theoretically, extrinsic mortality plays a major role in the evolution of life history and the variation in reproductive strategies. Using life history theory as a framework, with higher extrinsic mortality cues women should speed up reproduction to maximize fitness in uncertain or risky environments, and in environments with little risk, women can allocate their energy to somatic development and in this time, accrue resources such as education and career opportunities. Thus, …