Physique Correlates with Reproductive Success in an Archival Sample of Delinquent Youth

Abstract

This study examines predictions from evolutionary psychology about relationships between physique and reproductive success using longitudinal data on 200 delinquent youth from Sheldon's (1949) somatotype research. Number of children (offspring count) in 1979 was used as the measure of reproductive success. Nonparametric bootstrap correlations and confidence intervals were calculated between offspring count and 11 measures of physique (endomorphy, mesomorphy, ectomorphy, andromorphy, gynomorphy, primary structural integration, secondary structural integration, general strength, hand strength, height, and weight). There were noteworthy correlations with mesomorphy, andromorphy, gynomorphy, primary structural integration, secondary structural integration, general strength, and hand strength, all in the directions predicted by evolutionary psychology. While no prediction was made for endomorphy, ectomorphy, or weight; height was expected to be correlated with offspring count, but this study did not find support for this relationship.