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Cited by 219Family Dynamics and RelationshipsHypothalamic control of reproductive hormonesEvolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior

Impact of fathers on daughters’ age at menarche: a genetically- and environmentally-controlled sibling study

Tither, Jacqueline M., Ellis, Bruce J.·2008·Developmental Psychology
DOI 10.1037/a0013065
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Abstract

Girls growing up in homes without their biological fathers tend to go through puberty earlier than their peers. Whereas evolutionary theories of socialization propose that this relation is causal, it could arise from environmental or genetic confounds. To distinguish between these competing explanations, the authors used a genetically and environmentally controlled sibling comparison design to examine the effects of differential exposure to family disruption/father absence in a community sample of sister pairs. As specified by evolutionary causal theories, younger sisters had earlier menarche than their older sisters in biologically disrupted families (n = 68) but not biologically intact families (n = 93). This effect was superseded, however, by a large moderating effect of paternal dysfunction. Younger sisters from disrupted families who were exposed to serious paternal dysfunction in early childhood attained menarche 11 months earlier than either their older sisters or other younger sisters from disrupted families who were not exposed to such dysfunction. These data suggest that early exposure to disordered paternal behavior, followed by family disruption and residential separation from the father, can lead to substantially earlier menarche.

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  • Cues to extrinsic morbidity-mortality guide development toward life-history trade-offs favoring an earlier pubertal transition from somatic to reproductive effort, but future over current reproduction in adulthood, especially in females.

    “Thus, cues to extrinsic morbidity-mortality guide development toward LH trade-offs favoring an earlier pubertal transition from somatic to reproductive effort (e.g., Belsky et al., 1991; Ellis and Essex, 2007; Tither and Ellis, 2008) but future over current reproduction in adulthood, especially in females (e.g., Nakamura et al., 2008; Nepomnaschy et al., 2006)”

    From The Adaptive Calibration Model of stress responsivity (2011) · cites this paper as Tither and Ellis, 2008

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Authors
Tither, J. M., & Ellis, B. J.
Affiliations
  • University of Canterbury (NZ)
  • University of Arizona (US)
ORCID
Ellis, Bruce J.
Venue
Developmental Psychology
Publisher
American Psychological Association (APA)
Published
2008
Volume
44
Issue
5
Pages
1409-1420
ISSN
  • 0012-1649 (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-0599
DOI
10.1037/a0013065
OpenAlex
W1987066810
Cited by
219
References
72
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 16 · 2016: 20 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 22 · 2013: 21 · 2012: 16
FWCI
37.31
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Developmental Psychology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • Tertiary Education Commission
  • Fathering the Future Trust
  • New Zealand Vice-Chancellors' Committee
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Demography › Family Dynamics and Relationships
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Reproductive Medicine › Hypothalamic control of reproductive hormones
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
Keywords
age at menarche, puberty timing, father absence, family breakdown, paternal behavior, sibling comparison
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Age Factors, Birth Order, Child, Family Characteristics, Father-Child Relations, Female, Humans, Menarche, New Zealand, Paternal Deprivation, Phenotype, Puberty, Retrospective Studies, Risk Factors, Social Environment, Child of Impaired Parents, Single-Parent Family, Siblings, Young Adult

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