Synonyms
Definition
Time elapsed between a birth and the previous birth.
Introduction
Variation in birth spacing can have substantial effects on lifetime reproductive success: spacing births too close together leads to maternal depletion and lowered infant survival, whereas spacing births too far apart results in the production of fewer offspring over the life-course than is optimal for maximizing reproductive success. In this entry, ancestral primate birth spacing patterns are discussed, and how humans compare with nonhuman primates. This is followed by discussion of some of the evidence that birth spacing patterns have been shaped by evolution and addresses whether women in modern industrialized nations should adhere to ancestral birth spacing patterns.
Nonhuman Primate Birth Spacing
Our closest living genetic relatives, the great apes, have longer average birth intervals than humans. Birth spacing patterns in apes and humans are summarized in Table 1....
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Waynforth, D. (2019). Ancestral Birth Spacing. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_841-1
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