Cross-Fertilization of Demographic, Evolutionary, and Genetic Approaches to the Study of Human Reproductive Behavior

John Hobcraft, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

How relevant are findings from genetic and evolutionary research for demographic understanding of human reproduction? What key genetic and evolutionary questions for demographic research on human reproduction are not being answered yet? This paper evaluates the insights available from the evolutionary perspective for understanding human reproductive behavior. Recent progress in genetic research is very rapid. Therefore, this review is selective, beginning with recent research using twins to estimate a partitioning of variation in human reproductive behavior into genetic and environmental components. Beyond this, there are issues relevant to mate selection, contraceptive risk-taking behavior, fecundity, and coital frequency that involve complex interplays of genes, often mediated through brain, and environment that need an integrated approach drawing on the natural and social sciences. This paper considers these issues starting from a demographic agenda, posing questions relevant for our understanding of human reproduction that may benefit from genetic or evolutionary research.