Frail Males on the American Frontier: The Role of Environmental Harshness on Sex Ratios at Birth across a Period of Rapid Industrialization

Ryan Schacht, Mike Hollingshaus, Heidi Hanson, Shane J. Macfarlan, Douglas Tharp, Tim Bruckner and Ken R. Smith
Additional contact information
Ryan Schacht: Department of Anthropology, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858, USA
Mike Hollingshaus: Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, David Eccles School of Business, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84111, USA
Heidi Hanson: Department of Surgery, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
Shane J. Macfarlan: Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
Douglas Tharp: Department of Geography, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
Tim Bruckner: Public Health, University of California, Irvine, CA 92617, USA
Ken R. Smith: Population Science, Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA

Social Sciences, 2021, vol. 10, issue 9, 1-11

Abstract: While sex ratios at birth (SRB) have been shown to vary within and across populations, after over a century of research, explanations have remained elusive. A variety of ecological, demographic, economic, and social variables have been evaluated, yet their association with SRB has been equivocal. Here, in an attempt to shed light on this unresolved topic within the literature, we approach the question of what drives variation in SRB using detailed longitudinal data spanning the frontier-era to the early 20th century in a population from the US state of Utah. Using several measures of environmental harshness, we find that fewer boys are born during challenging times. However, these results hold only for the frontier-era and not into a period of rapid economic and infrastructure development. We argue that the mixed state of the literature may result from the impact and frequency of exogenous stressors being dampened due to industrialization.

Keywords: sex ratio; prenatal stress; environmental stressors (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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