CGPH FACULTY: Ralph Catalano
DATE OF PUBLICATION: September 2011
REGION: Asia
REFERENCE: Bruckner TA, Subbaraman M, Catalano RA. Transient cultural influences on infant mortality: Fire-Horse daughters in Japan. Am J Hum Biol. 2011 Sep-Oct;23(5):586-91. doi: 10.1002/ajhb.21174. Epub 2011 Jun 16.
SUMMARY/ABSTRACT: Parental investment theory suggests that the quality and quantity of parental care depends, in part, on assessments of whether offspring will survive and yield grandchildren. Consistent with this theory, we hypothesize that parental perception that a birth cohort will have low reproductive success coincides with higher than expected infant mortality in the cohort. We test this hypothesis in industrialized Japan in 1966 when cultural aversion to females born in the astrological year of the Fire-Horse may have jeopardized the life of female infants. The discovery of a predictable, acute increase in female infant mortality during the Fire-Horse year supports the relevance of parental investment theory to developed countries. Results should encourage further research on the health sequelae of abrupt, population-level shifts in culture.
ACCESS: Link to Pubmed