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A meta-analysis of the association between male dimorphism and fitness outcomes in humans

Lidborg, Linda H.; Cross, Catharine Penelope; Boothroyd, Lynda G.

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Authors

Catharine Penelope Cross



Abstract

Humans are sexually dimorphic: men and women differ in body build and composition, craniofacial structure, and voice pitch, likely mediated in part by developmental testosterone. Sexual selection hypotheses posit that, ancestrally, more 'masculine' men may have acquired more mates and/or sired more viable offspring. Thus far, however, evidence for either association is unclear. Here, we meta-analyze the relationships between six masculine traits and mating/reproductive outcomes (96 studies, 474 effects, N = 177,044). Voice pitch, height, and testosterone all predicted mating; however, strength/muscularity was the strongest and only consistent predictor of both mating and reproduction. Facial masculinity and digit ratios did not significantly predict either. There was no clear evidence for any effects of masculinity on offspring viability. Our findings support arguments that strength/muscularity may be sexually selected in humans, but cast doubt regarding selection for other forms of masculinity and highlight the need to increase tests of evolutionary hypotheses outside of industrialized populations.

Citation

Lidborg, L. H., Cross, C. P., & Boothroyd, L. G. (2022). A meta-analysis of the association between male dimorphism and fitness outcomes in humans. eLife, 11, Article e65031. https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.65031

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Feb 17, 2022
Online Publication Date Feb 18, 2022
Publication Date 2022
Deposit Date Feb 21, 2022
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal eLife
Publisher eLife Sciences Publications
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 11
Article Number e65031
DOI https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.65031

Files

Accepted Journal Article (24.7 Mb)
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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
© 2022, Lidborg et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.





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