Fitness consequences of spousal relatedness in 46 small-scale societies

Biology letters • Vol/Iss. 10(5) • The Royal Society • • Published In • Pages: 1-4 •
By Bailey, Drew H., Hill, Kim R., Walker, Robert S.

Abstract

The authors predict that fitness outcomes will be negatively associated with spousal relatedness among foragers but positively associated among non-foragers, due to the greater social benefits of intensive kinship systems among non-foragers. Support is found for this hypothesis; however, an interaction effect is discovered with inbreeding, which appears to account for the variability in these relationships independent of subsistence activity. The authors qualify this support in order to explain why the incidence of cousin-marriage in non-foraging societies is not higher.
Documents and Hypotheses Filed By: jack.dunnington