Journal article

Publication year: 2018

Journal: PLoS ONE

Volume number: 13

Issue number: 3

ISSN: 1932-6203

Open access status: Gold

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0193252

Publisher: Public Library of Science

Abstract: 
Motivated by the cooperative breeding hypothesis, we investigate the effect of having kin on the mortality of reproductive women based on family reconstitutions for the Krummhorn region ( East Frisia, Germany, 1720-1874). We rely on a combination of Cox clustered hazard models and hazard models stratified at the family level. In order to study behavior-related effects, we run a series of models in which only kin who lived in the same parish are considered. To investigate structural, non-behavior-related effects, we run a different model series that include all living kin, regardless their spatial proximity. We find that women of reproductive age who had a living mother had a reduced mortality risk. It appears that having living sisters had an ambivalent impact on women's mortality: i.e., depending on the socioeconomic status of the family, the effect of having living sisters ranged between representing a source of competition and representing a source of support. Models which are clustered at the family level suggest that the presence of a living mother-in-law was associated with reduced mortality among her daughters-in-law especially among larger-scale farm families. We interpret this finding as a consequence of augmented consanguineous marriages among individuals of higher social strata. For instance, in first cousin marriages, the mother-in-law could also be a biological aunt. Thus, it appears that among the wealthy elite, the genetic in-law conflict was neutralized to some extent by family solidarity. This result further suggests that the tipping point of the female trade-off between staying with the natal family and leaving the natal family to join an economically well-established in-law family might have been reached very quickly among women living under the socioeconomic conditions of the Krummhorn region.

Harvard Citation style: Willfuehr, K., Johow, J. and Voland, E. (2018) When the mother-in-law is just as good-Differential mortality of reproductive females by family network composition, PLoS ONE, 13(3), Article e0193252. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0193252

APA Citation style: Willfuehr, K., Johow, J., & Voland, E. (2018). When the mother-in-law is just as good-Differential mortality of reproductive females by family network composition. PLoS ONE. 13(3), Article e0193252. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0193252