Nature Communications (May 2020)

Child volunteers in a women's paramilitary organization in World War II have accelerated reproductive schedules

  • Robert Lynch,
  • Virpi Lummaa,
  • Michael Briga,
  • Simon N. Chapman,
  • John Loehr

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-15703-0
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 1
pp. 1 – 10

Abstract

Read online

Life history theory predicts that females will adjust reproductive timing in response to environmental challenges. Here the authors show that young girls exposed to higher mortality rates during war give birth earlier and more often than their peers who were not exposed to these conditions.