A comparative study of determinants of uxorilocal marriage in two counties of China

Models of cultural niche construction with selection and assortative mating

Niche construction is a process through which organisms modify their environment and, as a result, alter the selection pressures on themselves and other species. In cultural niche construction, one or more cultural traits can influence the evolution of other cultural or biological traits by affecting the social environment in which the latter traits may evolve. Cultural niche construction may include either gene-culture or culture-culture interactions. Here we develop a model of this process and suggest some applications of this model. We examine the interactions between cultural transmission, selection, and assorting, paying particular attention to the complexities that arise when selection and assorting are both present, in which case stable polymorphisms of all cultural phenotypes are possible. We compare our model to a recent model for the joint evolution of religion and fertility and discuss other potential applications of cultural niche construction theory, including the evolution and maintenance of large-scale human conflict and the relationship between sex ratio bias and marriage customs. The evolutionary framework we introduce begins to address complexities that arise in the quantitative analysis of multiple interacting cultural traits.

Mortality of the oldest old Chinese: the role of early-life nutritional status, socio-economic conditions, and sibling sex-composition

Based on a nationally representative sample of 8,099 Chinese drawn from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS), this study investigated the long-term health consequences of early-life nutritional status, sibling sex-composition, childhood socio-economic conditions, and place of birth on mortality at ages 80 and above between 1998 and 2005. Better nutritional status in childhood predicted lower mortality at ages 80 and above, net of childhood circumstances, adult socio-economic status, and health behaviours. In addition, sibling sex-composition had long-term health consequences, net of childhood and adult characteristics, such that women benefited from having grown up in families with only daughters, while men benefited from having grown up in families with both sons and daughters. Childhood socio-economic status was only marginally related to old-age mortality and this association was attenuated further by the inclusion of adult characteristics. Place of birth was not a significant predictor of old-age mortality.

Economics, cultural transmission, and the dynamics of the sex ratio at birth in China

In rural China, the ratio of newborn boys to newborn girls [sex ratio at birth (SRB)] has been rising for several decades, to values significantly above its biological norm. This trend has a number of alarming societal consequences, and has attracted the attention of scholars and politicians. The root of the problem lies in a 2,500-year-old culture of son preference. This culture is intricately linked with the economic reality of each couple's life, so that there are financial and psychological repercussions to parents who have no sons. To bring greater clarity and understanding to this issue, we present a quantitative framework that describes the interaction between economics and cultural transmission. We start with an explicit mechanism by which economic incentives can change cultural beliefs of a given individual, and go on to include a mechanism of cultural inheritance from generation to generation. We then show how economic conditions can affect the dynamics of cultural change in an entire society, and may lead to a decrease in the country's sex ratio at birth.