Abstract: AbstractAccording to the life‐history theory, rates of sexual maturation have coevolved with mortality rates so that individuals who mature faster tend to die younger. We used two data sets, providing different markers for the speed of pubertal development to test whether rates of sexual maturation of women predict the age at death of their parents. In the data set of Estonian schoolgirls born between 1936 and 1961, the rate of breast development predicted lifespan of both mothers and fathers (irrespectively of their socio‐economic position...
(read more)
Topics: 
Demography
Developmental psychology