Early-life conditions and age at first pregnancy in British women
Article
Nettle, D., Coall, D. and Dickins, T. 2011. Early-life conditions and age at first pregnancy in British women. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 278 (1712), pp. 1721-1727. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2010.1726
Type | Article |
---|---|
Title | Early-life conditions and age at first pregnancy in British women |
Authors | Nettle, D., Coall, D. and Dickins, T. |
Abstract | There is growing evidence that the reproductive schedules of female mammals can be affected by conditions experienced during early development, with low parental investment leading to accelerated life-history strategies in the offspring. In humans, the relationships between early-life conditions and timing of puberty are well studied, but much less attention has been paid to reproductive behaviour. Here, we investigate associations between early-life conditions and age at first pregnancy (AFP) in a large, longitudinally studied cohort of British women (n = 4553). Low birthweight for gestational age, short duration of breastfeeding, separation from mother in childhood, frequent family residential moves and lack of paternal involvement are all independently associated with earlier first pregnancy. Apart from that of birthweight, the effects are robust to adjustment for family socioeconomic position (SEP) and the cohort member's mother's age at her birth. The association between childhood SEP and AFP is partially mediated by early-life conditions, and the association between early-life conditions and AFP is partially mediated by emotional and behavioural problems in childhood. The overall relationship between early-life adversities and AFP appears to be approximately additive. |
Keywords | developmental plasticity; developmental programming; maternal effects; parental effects; life history; National Child Development Study |
Research Group | Behavioural Biology group |
Publisher | The Royal Society |
Journal | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
ISSN | 0962-8452 |
Publication dates | |
Online | 10 Nov 2010 |
07 Jun 2011 | |
Publication process dates | |
Deposited | 15 Oct 2013 |
Accepted | 22 Oct 2010 |
Submitted | 11 Aug 2010 |
Output status | Published |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2010.1726 |
PubMed ID | 21068037 |
Web of Science identifier | WOS:000289719900016 |
Language | English |
https://repository.mdx.ac.uk/item/846zw
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