INFLUENCEOFMATERNALREPRODUCTIVE CHARACTERISTICSONTHEBODYTRAITSOF PRESCHOOLCHILDREN
FRANCISCO BRAZAANDCRISTINA SAN JOSÉ
EstaciônBiolOgicadeDo/lana,CSIC,Spain
Theauthorsstudiedtheinfluenceofmaternal reproductivecharacteristicsontheirpit-school children’sbodytraitsinavillageinsouthernSpain,assumingthatchildren’ssizeatprc-schooi ageisassociatedwiththeirfuturereproductivepalterns.Thevariablesconsideredwere: I) mother’sagealmenarche,asamoregeneticallyinformativevariable,2)asamoteenvironmental variable,theyproposeanewindexofmaternal timeavailability,and 3)birth weighttocontrol itsinfluenceonearlypatternsof growth.Thechildren’sbodytrailsconsideredwereweightand height,andabodymassindexwasalsocomputed.Accordingtotheseresults,themother’sage atmenarcheis relatedtothosebody parameterswhich probably influencethechildren’sfuture reproductivestrategies.
Humanreproductivecharactensucsmayvaryfromindividualtoindividual, withinthe continuumbetweenreproductivepatternswhichareshort-term(maxiF
ranciscoBrazaandCristinaSanJosé,EstacianBiolOgicadeDodana,CSIC.Spain.
Thisresearchwassupponedby theSpanishDOICYT(project No.PB94-00l0)andby theMinistryof EducationandResearch(researchcontract).Thcauthorsthank[hetcachersfromthekindergartenof “ZaharadeLaSierra”andthechildrcn’sfamiliesfortheircollaboration.Dalawerecollectedwiththe helpofJoséA.Luna,ChariCarreras,3.Manuel Mufloz,andXeniaCasanova,whichwasverymuch appreciated.TheauthorsaregratefultoEnriqueCollado,Dr.PedroJordano,andDr.JiavierCuervo fortheirhelpinanalyzingdataaswellasfor[heircomments.ALiciaPrietocontributedtothepreparation ofthemanuscript.Prot JoséRamOnLorenzo(Fact.CCdeLa Educacidn,Univ.CIdiz)providedthe growthcurves andsablesontheAndalusianchildren.
Appreciationisduetoreviewersincluding:Prof.JoseRamonSanchez,FaculladdePsicologia, UniversidaddeSanSebastian,Spain, andProf.Rosario Carreras,FaeultadDcFormaciondel Profesorado,UniversidaddeCadiz, Spain.
Kcywords:Ageatmenarche,Mother’savailability,Reproductivestrategies,Bodytraits,Preschool children,Spain.
Pleaseaddresscorrespondenceandreprintrequeststo:FranciscoBraza.EstacidnBioLdgicadeDoflana, CSIC,Avda.M’bsisas/n,PabellóndelPeru,41013ScvilLa,Spain.Phone:+3454232340;Fax:
+3454621125;Email:<>
417
mizingmatingeffort:earlymenarche,earlysexualactivity,earlyfirstreproduc tion,highnumberandlowqualityofoffspring)andlong-tenn(maximizingparenting effort:lateonsetofpuberty,latefirstsexualintercourseandreproduction,and fewer butbetterquality—offspring).
AlLthesefactorscouldbeaffectedbytwokindsofdeterminants.Firstly,the
geneticinfluencemeasuredbytheinheritanceofthesefactors,whichwould explainthecharacteristicssharedbytheindividualsandtheirparents.Thereare reportssuggestingtheinheritanceofreproductivecharacteristicsas,forinstance, theconcordanceofmothersanddaughtersinmenarchetiming(CampbellUdry,
1995; Graber,Brooks-Gunn,Warren,1995;Wolanski,1995).Secondly,envi ronmentalconditions(e.g.,nutrition,lifequalityoflife,familycontext,etc.)could alsoaffectthereproductivecharacteristicsof individuals;andsoChisholm(1993) revisedtheconsequencesofearlystresson thewaypeopleallocatetheirreproduc tiveeffort.
Geneticstudiessuggestthatthecontributionofgenotypiceffectstothevariance
inmenarcheal timingisstrongerthanthatofenvironmentalones(Kaprio,etal.,
1995). However,theenvironmentalinfluenceonageofmenarcheingirls hasbeen extensiveLyevidenced(Belsky,SteinbergDraper,1991;DraperHarpending,
1982;Ellis,McFadyen-Ketchum,Dodge,PetitBates,1999;Graberetal.,1995;
Moffit,Caspi,BelskySilva1992;Steinberg,1988;Wierson,LongForehand,
1993).
Ontheotherhand,althoughbirth weightiscorrelatedtogrowthstatusduring childhood,Gofin,Adler,andMaddeLa(1993)pointedoutthattheinfluenceof birth weighton theearlypatternof growthisnotmaintainedthroughadolescence, andfoundthat,attheageof14,mostoftheexplainedvariancewasattributedto themeasurementsattheageofsix.Khan,Schroeder,Martorell,Haas,andRivera (1996)demonstrated(hatalineargrowthretardationduringthisperiodofearly childhoodisassociatedwithadelayin menarche.DraperandHarpending(1982) haveshownthatthereisasensitiveperiodinearlychildhood,approximatelyfrom birthtofiveyearsoLd,andthatphysicalandbehavioralchangesduringthisperiod mayhavesignificantrepercussionsontheonsetofpubertyandfuturereproductive strategiesof individuals.
Thus,assumingthatthechildren’sphysicaldevelopmentatpreschoolageis
importantwithrespecttotheirfuturereproductivepatterns,theaimofthepresent researchistostudythereLationshipbetweenmaternalreproductivepatterns(ageat menarche,numberofsiblings,interbirthinterval)andthevariationofthebody traitsofpre-schoolgirlsandboys.
INFLUENCEOFMATERNALREPRODUCTIVECHARACTERISTICS419
METHOD
PARTICIPANTS
Thestudywascarriedout inZaharadelaSierra,avillageofaround2000inhab itantsin themountainrangesofCádiz(southernSpain)during1997.Thepartici pantswereagroupofpre-schoolchildren(n=38;25girls, 13boys),whobelonged toLower-middlesocio-economicclassfamilies.Boththelivingconditionsandnu tritionpatternsinarestrictedareaarehomogeneous.InaLlcasesbothmotherand fatherwerelivingwiththechildren.Ademographicprofileofthesampleisshown inTable1.
TABLE1
DEMOGRAPHICCHARACTERISTICSOFThE SAMPLE(N=38)
Girls(n=25) / Boys(n=13)Al / SD / Al / SD
Ageoftheehildren(years) / 5.823 / 0.447 / 5.577 / 0.435
Mother’sageatthechiJd’sbirth(years) / 27.240 / 5.659 / 28.462 / 4.594
Father’sageatthechild’sbirth(years) / 30.680 / 6.619 / 30.615 / 6.158
Mother’sageatmenarche(years) / 12.400 / 1.155 / 12.692 / 1.251
Birthweight(kg)ofthechildstudied3.2180.4663.4050.440
VAR1ABLESMEAsURED
A)Dependentvariables.
1) Height:distancebetweentheinterparietalunionandthefloor(inmeters).
2) Bodyweight(inkilograms).
3) Abodymassindex(hereafterBMI=bodyweight/heightsquared)wasalso computed.
Theheightsandweightsofpre-schoolchildrenwereobtainedduringthe first daysoftheschoolyear.Atrainedstaffmembercollectedbothmeasurementsusing standardanthropologicprocedures,Thechildren’sheightsandweightsweremeas uredusingastandardtapemeasuremountedtoawall,andelectronicbathroom scales.
Althoughtherange of agesofthechildrenis small,thereis stillanage-related growtheffectinheightandweight.Heightandtheweightvaluesweresubstituted fortheirz-scores((Weight(orHeight)-ii)/a)withrespecttothedistributionofthe samesexandageofAndalusianchildren(Fact.CCdeIaEducación,Univ.de Cádiz).
B)independentvariables.
Themotherswerequestionedabouttheirreproductivehistories(ageatmenarche, number,ageandsexoftheirpreviouschildren,andbirth weight ofthechildren studied).The variabLes selectedwere:
1)Mother’sageatmenarche(hereafterMAM).
2)MaternalTimeIndex(hereafterMTI):Inordertoassessthemother’stime availableforthechiLdstudied,theauthorsproposeanewindexwhichtakesinto accountthenumberofsiblingsandbirthintervaluptothemomentthestudied childismeasured;thisindexcouldprovideinfonnationabouttheproximalfamily environmentwherechildrengrowup.Theindexwascalculatedasfollows:
MTI=Z
1=0Sp+SFj
j=o
=Birthfollowingthebirthofthestudysubject;Ti=Intervalbetweenone birthandthenextoruptothemomentwhenthestudysubjectwasmeasured(T0is theintervalbetweenthebirthofthestudysubjectandthenextbirth)S=number
ofsiblingsprecedenttothebirthofthesubjectstudied;SFJ=numberofsiblings
borninbirthj,beingj=Othebirthinwhichthesubjectstudiedwasborn.
3)Birthweight(hereafterBW)ofthestudiedchild:inordertocontrolitspos
sibleinfluenceon theearlypatternofgrowth.
ANALYSIS
Girlsandboyswereanalyzedseparately,takingintoaccountthatsexualdiffer encesinhumanparentalinvestmentandsexualselectionaretobe expected (KenrickTrost,1993).Asignificantdifferenceinweightatpreschoolagewas detected,thegirlsbeingheavierthantheboys(ANOVAF=5.773,p=0.0216),
MultipLeleastsquareregressionswereused(AbacusConcepts,Statview4.1,
1992)toanalyzetherelativecontributionofmaternalreproductiveparametersto thechildren’sbodycharacteristicsat preschoolage.
RESULTS
Nosignificantcorrelationwasdetectedbetweenthethreematernalreproduc tivecharacteristics(MAM,MTI,andBW)consideredinthecaseofthepreschool girls(Pearson’sCorrelationranging-0.267 rS0.127).
Table2showsthat,whenregressingthebodytraitsofpre-schoolgirlstoMAM
andtoMTI,asignificantnegativecontributionoftheMAMtobothweightand BMIatpre-schooLagewasfound.TheMTEdidnotcontributesignificantlytothe bodytraitsof girlsat pre-schoolage.
TABLE2
BODYTRAiTSOF PRESCHOOLOWLSREGRESSIONS ONMuIHER’sAGEATMENARCHE (MAM)AND
MATERNALTIMEINDEX(MTI)
Coefficientp
Lntercept20.8582.4590.0223 a)Weight MAM -0.452 -2.378 0.0265
MTI-0.068-0.3600.7223
=0.217,df=22.F=3.050,p=0.0677
Coefficientp
Intercept-2.248-0.2890.7754 b)Height MAM 0.127 0,616 0.5443
MTI-0.273-1.3260.1986
W=0.082,df= 22,F=0.981,p=0.3909
Coefficientp
Intercept14.9613.2000.0041
C)BMIMAM-0.581-3.3060.0032
MTI0.0680.3890.7009
0.332,df=22,F 5A66,p=0.0118
Ascanbeseen inTable3,whenregressingthebodytraitsofpre-schoolgirlsto MAMandto 8W, therewasatendencytowardsanegativecontributionofthe MAMtoweight atpre-schooLage,andasignificantnegativecontributionofthe MAMtotheBMIwasfound.The8Wdidnotcontributesignificantlytothebody traitsof girlsatpre-schoolage.
TABLE3
BODYTRAITSOFPRESCHOOL GiRLSRLGRESSIONSONMOTHER’SAGEATMENARCHE(MAM)AND BIRTHWEIGHT(BW)OFTHECHILDSTUDIED
Coefficientp
Intercept8.7340.7950.4354 a)Weight MAM -0.383 -2.058 0.0516
*
BW0.2911.5630.1324
R2=0.291,df= 22,F=‘4.SI9,p=0.0227
Coefficientp
Intercept-16.537-1.6160.1204 b)Height MAM 0.194 0.948 0.3535
BW0.3821.86400757
R20.I44,df=22F=l.847,p=O.1813
Coefficientp
Intercept14.3542.2480.0349
c)BMIMAM-0.563-3.1060.0052**
BW0.0340.1880.8523
R2=0.328,df= 22,F S.38O,p=0.0125
Whenconsideringthecorrelationbetweenthethreematernalreproductivechar acteristicsinthecaseofboys,asignificantpositivereLationshipwasdetected betweenMAMandMTI(r=0.647,p=0.0149,Pearson’sCorrelation)only.
422INFLUENCEOFMATERNALREPRODUCTIVECI-IARACTERISTICS
Table4showsthat,whenregressingthebodytraitsofpreschoolboystoMAM and?VITJ,asignificant negativecontributionofMAMtotheweightatpre-school agewasfound.AscanbeseeninTable5,whenregressingthebodytraitsofboys toMAMandto8W,asignificantnegativecontributionoftheMAMtotheweight andheightatpm-schoolagewasfound.Asignificantcontributionofthe8Wtothe heightofboysat pre-schoolagewasalsofound.
TABLE4
BODYTRAITSOFPRESCHOOL BoysREGREsSIONSONMOTHER’SAG!ATMENARCHE(NIAM)AND
MATERNAL TIME INDEX(M’I’I)
CoefficientIp
Intercept22.0212.5090.0310
a)WeightMAM-0.729-2.3060.0438*
Ml’!0.1390.4410.6685
R2=0.419.df= 10F=3.609,p=0.0661
Coefficienia’p
tntercept27.5861.8430.0951
b)HeightMAM-0.604-1.7100.1181
MTI0.1400.3980.6992
=0.275,df= 10,F=1.893,p=0.2008
Coefficientrp
Intercept 7.721 1.5450.1534 c)BMI MAM -0A95 -L.369 0.2011
MTI0.0090.0250.9804
R2=0.239,df=10,F=L573,p=0.2548
TABLE S
BODYTRAITSOFPRESCHOOL Boys REGRESSIONS ONMOTHER’SAGEATMENARCHE(MAM)AND BIRTHWEIGHT(BW)OFTHE CHILDSTUDIED
CoefficieniIp
Intercept10.3361.3010.2224
a)WeightMAM-0.647-3.1850.0097
BW0.4242.0870.0635
R2=0.588.df= 10,F=7.l23,p=0.0119
Coefficienta’p
tnrercept4.5350.3750.7152
b)HeightMAM-0.524-2.5890.0270
13W0.5722.8240.0180*
=0.590,df= 10,F=7.t97,p=0.01t6
Coefficientrp
Intercept 5.805 11010.2969 c)BMI MAM -0.492 -1.816 0.0994
BW0.1620.5970.5640
R1=0.265,df=tO,F=I.8O6,p=0.2t40
Whenregressingthebodytraitsofpreschoolchildren(boysandgirls)toMTI
andto8W,nosignificantconthbutionwasdetected.
DISCUSSION
AsignificantnegativecontributionofMAMtoweightof girlsandboysat pre schoolagehasbeendetected independentlyofeitherMTIorBW.Furthermore, andalsowhencontrollingforMTIorBW,theseresultsrevealahigherBMIinthe we-schoolgirlsofearlier-maturingmothers, whichcanbeconsideredasagood estimateof bodyfatness(i.e., theproportion ofbodymassfat, Deurenberg, Weststrate,Seidell,1991).
Arelationship betweenawoman’s amountofbodyfatandtheonsetof menarchehaspreviouslybeendemonstrated (Ellison,1982;Frisch,1988;Frisch
McArthur,1974),young girlsnotenteringpubertyuntilthey havereacheda critical ratioofbodyfattomuscle.Thus,atleastforgirls,agreaterinfluenceof BMIat pre-schoolageonthefutureonsetofmenarcheistobeexpected.
Furthermoreintheseresults,itisinterestingtonotethat,whencontrollingfor
BW,theMAMhasanegativesignificantcontributioninheightat pre-schoolage-
butonlyinboys.
Thepubertalonsetforboyshastraditionallybeenassociatedwithbehavioral factors andprobablyabiggersize(weightandheightcanbeconsideredasesti matesofbodysize)at pit-schoolagecontributestoanearlyreproductivebehavior, (Capaldi,Crosby,Stoolmiller,1996).
Consideringthatchildrenofearlier-maturingmothersprobablyalsomatureear lier,itcanbeexpectedthatthesechildrenofthesameagearephysicallyfurther developedthanchildrenof later-maturingmothers.Moffit,etal.(1992) havepre viouslysuggestedthatchildrenofearlier-maturingmothersalsomaturedearlier; resultsfromWolanski’sstudy(1995)ofMexicanschoolgirlsalsosuggestedthis possibilitybyreveaLingacorrelationbetweentheageatmenarcheofmothersand daughters;andGofin,etal.(1993)pointedoutthatearlymenstruatinggirlswere tallerandheavierthannon-menstruatinggirlsalreadyatsixyearsold.
Accordingtotheresultsofthisstudy,MAMisstronglyrelatedtothosebody
parametersthatprobablyinfluencethe children’sfuturereproductivestrategies. Thatis,ingirls,themother’sageatmenarcheismorecloselyrelatednotonly to bodyweightbutalsotothestoreoffatness,whereasitismorerelatedtobodysize inboys.
Followingthepredictionoflife-historytheories,ina short-termreproductive strategylow-qualityoffspringaremoretobeexpected.Therelationshipbetween earlymenarcheofmothersandmorephysicallydeveloped childrenat preschool agedoesnotmeanthatthesechildrenwillattainabetterphysicalconditionas adults.Intheauthors’opinion,advanceddevelopmentatpreschoolageanticipates theonsetofpuberty,whichprobably stopstheirgrowth.Ithaslongbeen recog nizedthatmaturationisaccompaniedbyadecreasein—orcessationof—growth in manyorganisms,andrecentresearchcorroboratestheresultsofseveralprevi
424 INFLUENCEOFMATERNALREPRODUCTNECHARACTERISTICS
ousstudiesthatdescribeshorterstaturesandhigherbodymassindexesduring adulthoodinearly-maturingfemales(Kirchengast,Gruber,Sator,Huber,1998).
Asregardsfamilycontext,inChisholm(1993),Pavlikpointedoutthatthepe riodfromfivetosevenyearsoldisimportantforthedevelopmentofthechild’s neuroendocrinephenotype,andearlystressmaybeassociatedwithhigh-mating effortreproductivepatLerfls.Belsky,etal.(1991) haveproposed thatthefirstfive tosevenyearsofexperiencein thefamilyenablesachildtoassesstheavailability ofresourcesandthedurabilityofparentalbondsasabasistodevelophisorher reproductivestrategy.Ellisetal,(1999),suggestthatthequalityoffathers’invest mentin the famiLyisthemostimportantfeatureoftheproximalfamilyenviron mentrelativetodaughters’pubertaltiming.
Inspiteoftheimportanceoffamilyexperienceinearlychildhoodonfuture reproductivestrategies,theauthorshavenotdetectedasignificantcontributionof thecontextwherechildrendevelop(MTI,i.e.,timeofmaternalavailability,birth interval,arid familysize)tothechildren’sbodytraitsat pre-schoolagewhencon trollingforbothMAMorBW.Otherauthors(Kim,Smith,Palermity,1997; KimSmith,1998),althoughtheyfounddevelopmentallinksbetweenchildhood stressors, onsetofpuberty,aridpostpubertalreproductivebehavior,considerthat earlypubertyandpostpubertalsexualbehaviormightbemoreinfluencedby intergenerationaltransmissionof genetic characteristics.
Sincebirthweightmight beconsideredasanoutcomeofmaternalphenotype
(maternaleffects)ratherthanofgeneticconstitutionoftheoffspring,it mightbe thoughtthatthepositivecontributionofboys’birth weight detectedtoheightat pre-schoolagewhencontrollingforMAM,mightsuggestamaternalenvironment’s influenceduringtheprenatalperiod,atleastforboys,in thedeterminationoftheir futurereproductivestrategy.Furthermore,inboysapositivecorrelationbetween MAMandMITwasfound,thatis—latermaturingmothersofboyspresentlong birthintervalsandfewoffspring,suggestingahigherinvestmentinboysthanearly maturing mothers.Consideringthattheallocationofresourcesbeforebirth(BW) isrelatedtotheonsetofboys’puberty,thisresultcould besupportingalso,atleast inboys,thepossibilityofamaternalenvironmentalinfluenceinLhereproductive strategyoftheirchildren.Thus,inboys,besidesthegeneticinfluencedetected (early orlatermaturingmothershaving earlyorlatermaturingchildrenrespec tively),anenvironmentalinfluencehasalsobeenfound.
Bodytraitsirrespectiveofagearegeneticallyandenvironmentallyaffected and
the contribution ofeachfactorateachageisdifficulttoassess.Futureresearch mightexplore,forgirlsaswellasforboys,modelsconsideringsimultaneously variablesinformativeoftheenvironmentaswellasthosemoregeneticallyinforma tive,
LINFLUENCEOFMATERNALREPRODUCTIVECHARACTERISTICS425
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SocialBehaviorandPersonality
ANINTERNATIONALJOURNAL
Volume292001Number5
CONTENTS
Francisco BrazaandCristina SanJosé,EstaciónBiólogicadeDonana,
CiSC,Spain
Influenceofmaternalreproductivecharacteristicson thebodytraitsof preschoolchildren417
NicolasMichinov,UniversitéBlaisePascal,France
Whendownwardcomparisonproducesnegativeaffect:Thesenseof controlasamoderator
Mousa Alnabhan,Mutah University,Jordan, and MichaelHarwell, 427
UniversityofMinnesota.USA
PsychometricchallengesindevelopingacollegeadmissiontestforJordan 445
Giovanni B.MonetaandFanny HoYanWong, TheChineseUniversityof
HongKong
ConstructvalidityoftheChineseadaptationoffourthematicscalesofthe personalityresearchform 459
AmiRokach,TheinstitutefortheStudyandTreatmentofPsycho-socialStress,
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