The role of parental age, family dynamics, and historical adversity in craniofacial variation of pre-World War II cadets

Linda Koníková; Grażyna Liczbińska

doi:10.18778/1898-6773.89.3.05

Authors

Linda Koníková Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic https://orcid.org/0009-0003-1631-2957
Grażyna Liczbińska Institute of Human Biology and Evolution, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0922-4612

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1898-6773.89.3.05

Keywords:

parental age difference, anthropometry, early-life stress

Abstract

Objective
This study examined how parental age, family context, and historical stressors relate to variation in craniofacial and body dimensions among male cadets from pre-World War II Lviv.
Materialand Methods
The sample included 365 male cadets measured in Lviv in 1938. Using Spearman correlations, Mann- Whitney U tests, and Generalized Additive Models with covariate adjustment, we tested whether parental age differences, socioeconomic factors, early-life stress, and family mortality predicted variation in fifteen anthropometric dimensions.
Results
Parental ages were strongly correlated, consistent with age-assortative mating. Larger parental age differences were associated with smaller jaw width, shorter head length, and variation in craniofacial shape, whereas advancing paternal age was associated with smaller jaw width and variation in overall craniofacial size. Maternal age showed only weak, non-significant trends. Higher parental occupational status predicted greater body height and weight. Variation in body height, nasal height, and overall craniofacial size was also related to sibling mortality. Cohorts corresponding to the periods of World War I and the Spanish flu exhibited smaller jaw width and lower body mass. Despite substantial parental mortality, no significant anthropometric differences were observed between individuals with known and unknown parental-age data.
Conclusions
Associations between parental age variables and offspring anthropometry were generally weak and limited to specific craniofacial traits. Future research using larger and more diverse samples is needed to determine whether the observed patterns reflect general biological processes or are specific to this cohort.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Blake, J. (1981). Family size and the quality of children. Demography, 18(4), 421–442.

Bogin, B. (2021). Social-economic-political-emotional (SEPE) factors regulate human growth. Human Biology and Public Health, 1. https://doi.org/10.52905/hbph.v1.10

Bradley, R., & Corwyn, R. (2002). Socioeconomic status and child development. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 371–399. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135233

Buss, D. M. (1989). Sex differences in human mate preferences: Evolutionary hypotheses tested in 37 cultures. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 12(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X00023992

D’Onofrio, B. M., Rickert, M. E., Frans, E., Kuja-Halkola, R., Almqvist, C., Sjölander, A., Larsson, H., & Lichtenstein, P. (2014). Paternal age at childbearing and offspring psychiatric and academic morbidity. JAMA Psychiatry, 71(4), 432–438. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2013.4525

Epstein, E., & Guttman, R. (1984). Mate selection in man: Evidence, theory, and outcome. Biodemography and Social Biology, 31(3–4), 243–278. https://doi.org/10.1080/19485565.1984.9988579

Eveleth, P. B., & Tanner, J. M. (1990). Worldwide variation in human growth. 2 nd ed. Cambridge University Press.

Geary, D. C., Vigil, J., & Byrd-Craven, J. (2004). Evolution of human mate choice. Journal of Sex Research, 41(1), 27–42. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224490409552211

Hallgrímsson, B., Lieberman, D. E., Liu, W., Ford-Hutchinson, A. F., & Jirik, F. R. (2007). Epigenetic interactions and the structure of phenotypic variation in the cranium. Evolution & Development, 9(1), 76–91. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1525-142X.2006.00139.x

Hill, K., & Kaplan, H. (1999). Life history traits in humans: Theory and empirical studies. Annual Review of Anthropology, 28(1), 397–430. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.28.1.397

Jenkins, T. G., Aston, K. I., Pflueger, C., Cairns, B. R., & Carrell, D. T. (2014). Age-associated sperm DNA methylation alterations: Possible implications in offspring disease susceptibility. PLoS Genetics, 10(7), e1004458. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1004458

Johnson, S. L., Dunleavy, J., Gemmell, N. J., & Nakagawa, S. (2015). Consistent age-dependent declines in human semen quality: A systematic review and meta-analy sis. Ageing Research Reviews, 19, 22–33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arr.2014.10.007

Jolly, M., Sebire, N., Harris, J., Robinson, S., & Regan, L. (2000). The risks associated with pregnancy in women aged 35 years or older. Human Reproduction, 15(11), 2433–2437. https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/15.11.2433

Kong, A., Frigge, M. L., Masson, G., Besenbacher, S., Sulem, P., Magnusson, G., Gudjonsson, S. A., Sigurdsson, A., Jonasdottir, A., Jonasdottir, A., Wong, W. S. W., Sigurdsson, G., Walters, G. B., Steinberg, S., Helgason, H., Thorleifsson, G., Gudbjartsson, D. F., Helgason, A., Magnusson, O. T., … Stefansson, K. (2012). Rate of de novo mutations and the importance of father’s age to disease risk. Nature, 488(7412), 471– 475. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11396

Lean, S. C., Derricott, H., Jones, R. L., & Heazell, A. E. P. (2017). Advanced maternal age and adverse pregnancy outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLOS ONE, 12(10), e0186287. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0186287

Liu, Y., Zhi, M., & Li, X. (2011). Parental age and characteristics of the offspring. Ageing Research Reviews, 10(1), 115–123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arr.2010.09.004

Luo, S. (2017). Assortative mating and couple similarity: Patterns, mechanisms, and consequences. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 11(8), e12337. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12337

Martínez-Abadías, N., Mitteroecker, P., Parsons, T. E., Esparza, M., Sjøvold, T., Rolian, C., Richtsmeier, J. T., & Hallgrímsson, B. (2012). The developmental basis of quantitative craniofacial variation in humans and mice. Evolutionary Biology, 39(4), 554–567. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11692-012-9210-7

Mazumder, B., Almond, D., Park, K., Crimmins, E. M., & Finch, C. E. (2010). Lingering prenatal effects of the 1918 influenza pandemic on cardiovascular disease. Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease, 1(1), 26–34. https://doi.org/10.1017/S2040174409990031

Myrskylä, M., & Fenelon, A. (2012). Maternal age and offspring adult health: Evidence from the health and retirement study. Demography, 49(4), 1231–1257. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-012-0132-x

Palloni, A., McEniry, M., Huangfu, Y., & Beltran-Sanchez, H. (2020). Impacts of the 1918 flu on survivors’ nutritional status: A double quasi-natural experiment. PLOS ONE, 15(10), e0232805. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0232805

Pinheiro, R. L., Areia, A. L., Mota Pinto, A., & Donato, H. (2019). Advanced maternal age: Adverse outcomes of pregnancy, a meta-analysis. Acta Medica Portuguesa, 32(3), 219– 226. https://doi.org/10.20344/amp.11057

Preston, S. H., & Haines, M. R. (1991). Fatal years: Child mortality in late nineteenth-century America. Princeton University Press.

Scheinkönig, A., & Kowalczewski, A. (1934). Spis gmin miejskich i wiejskich Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. Warszawa: Samorządowy Instytut Wydawniczy.

Spuhler, J. N. (1968). Assortative mating with respect to physical characteristics. Eugenics Quarterly, 15(2), 128–140. https://doi.org/10.1080/19485565.1968.9987763

Szturm de Sztrem, E. (1931). Drugi powszechny spis ludności z dn. 9 XII 1931 r.: Polska – Stosunki zawodowe, ludność poza rolnictwem (część 1), Z. 94c. Warszawa: Główny Urząd Statystyczny Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej.

Tarín, J. J., Brines, J., & Cano, A. (1998). Long-term effects of delayed parenthood. Human Reproduction, 13(9), 2371–2376. https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/13.9.2371

Ulijaszek, S. J., Johnston, F. E., & Preece, M. A. (Eds.). (1998). The Cambridge encyclopedia of human growth and development. Cambridge University Press.

Wokroj, F. (1949). Korpus Kadetów Nr 1 pod względem rozwoju fizycznego i zróżnicowania antropologicznego. Przegląd Antropologiczny 16, 34 –82.

Wyszczelski, L., & Niewęgłowska, A. (2016). Korpusy kadetów w Polsce (1918–1939). Kwartalnik “Bellona”, 686(3). 167–182.

Zhang, C., Yan, L., & Qiao, J. (2022). Effect of advanced parental age on pregnancy outcome and offspring health. Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics, 39(9), 1969–1986. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-022-02533-w