Virpi Lummaa
Biographic Data
| ID | 119196 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Virpi Lummaa |
| GIVEN NAMES | Virpi |
| FAMILY NAME | Lummaa |
| SIGNATURE | LUMMAA V |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Turku |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2128-7587 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 5 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1998 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
The role of living kin in later-life survival
Research on kinship and survival is well established in modern societies, but less is known about historical populations. This study examines the presence of children, siblings, and grandchildren in later life and their association with survival in pre-industrial Finland. We use records of 6,900 Finns born in 1740-1859 to estimate discrete-time hazard models for mortality at ages 50-90. At age 50, most individuals had at least one living child or…
Resources modify the associations between kin and fertility in historical Finland
Inclusive fitness theory predicts that to maximize fitness, individuals should invest in kin, but relatives can also compete for resources. These opposing forces can have opposite effects on fertility, which was further constrained by marital and inheritance norms in traditional Western societies. How available resources influence this balance between helping and competing remains poorly understood. To investigate whether kin help or harm fertili…
Close and more distant relatives are associated with child mortality risk in historical Finland
Humans are characterised as cooperative breeders, as not only the parents but also other members of the social group take part in raising offspring. The individuals who invest most in childrearing are usually the more closely related individuals. However, most studies have concentrated on close kin and the effects of more distant kin remain unknown. Here, we investigated the associations of child mortality (<5 years, n = 32,000 children) with the…
Grandmother Effects Over the Finnish Demographic Transition
Demographic transitions are defining events for human societies, marking shifts from natural mortality and fertility rates to the low rates seen in industrialised populations. These transitions can affect trait evolution through altering the direction and strength of selection when variance in fertility and mortality decline. One key feature of human evolution is the evolution of extended post-reproductive life through indirect fitness benefits f…
Sex, age, and family structure influence dispersal behaviour after a forced migration
Dispersal does not only mean moving from one environment to another, but can also refer to shifting from one social group to another. Individual characteristics such as sex, age and family structure might influence an individual's propensity to disperse. In this study, we use a unique dataset of an evacuated World War II Finnish population, to test how sex, age, number of siblings and birth order influence an individual's dispersal away from thei…
Intention to have a second child, family support and actual fertility behavior in current China
OBJECTIVES: This study provides an evolutionary perspective to a classic topic in demography, that is, the discrepancy between reproductive intention and subsequent behavior, in the context of China's two-child policy. METHODS: We conduct an event history analysis of longitudinal data from the 2015 and 2018 waves of the Xi'an Fertility Survey (sample size = 321 followed one-child mothers) to test the hypotheses of how within-family support/confli…
Will granny save me? Birth status, survival, and the role of grandmothers in historical Finland
Family dynamics and age-related patterns in marriage probability
Self sacrifice and kin psychology in war
Whether to have a second child or not? An integrative approach to women's reproductive decision-making in current China
Integration involves a trade-off between fertility and status for World War II evacuees
Understanding how refugees integrate into host societies has broad implications for researchers interested in intergroup conflict and for governments concerned with promoting social cohesion. Using detailed records tracking the movements and life histories of Finnish evacuees during World War II, we find that evacuees who intermarry are more likely to be educated, work in professional occupations, marry someone higher in social status and remain …
Parent‐offspring conflict over family size in current China
OBJECTIVES: In China, the recent replacement of the one-child policy with a two-child policy could potentially change family ecology-parents may switch investment from exclusively one child to two. The parent-offspring conflict theory provides testable hypotheses concerning possible firstborn opposition toward further reproduction of their mother, and who wins the conflict. We tested the hypotheses that if there is any opposition, it will differ …
Personality and long-term reproductive success measured by the number of grandchildren
Facial attractiveness and fertility in populations with low levels of modern birth control
Life-history theory, reproduction and longevity in humans
The basic assumption underlying life-history theory is that natural selection has selected for an optimal combination of life-history traits that maximizes individual fitness. The best studied trade-offs include: investigating how individuals should allocate resources to reproduction versus their own growth and survival; and when reproducing, how should they divide their effort between current and future reproduction or between the number, sex, a…
Age at first reproduction and probability of reproductive failure in women
Elder brothers affect the life history of younger siblings in preindustrial humans
Fitness benefits of prolonged post-reproductive lifespan in women
Early Developmental conditions and reproductive success in humans
Growth, survival, and breeding success of individuals in populations of wild mammals are influenced by the climatic and nutritional conditions that individuals experience during their early development. Recent findings have shown that early conditions also have consequences for subsequent survival and reproductive performance in humans. Environmental conditions which affect early development of individuals, such as the quality and quantity of nut…
Induced abortion ratio in modern Sweden falls with age, but rises again before menopause
Why Cry? Adaptive Significance of Intensive Crying in Human Infants
Grandmother Effects Over the Finnish Demographic Transition
Demographic transitions are defining events for human societies, marking shifts from natural mortality and fertility rates to the low rates seen in industrialised populations. These transitions can affect trait evolution through altering the direction and strength of selection when variance in fertility and mortality decline. One key feature of human evolution is the evolution of extended post-reproductive life through indirect fitness benefits f…
Integration involves a trade-off between fertility and status for World War II evacuees
Understanding how refugees integrate into host societies has broad implications for researchers interested in intergroup conflict and for governments concerned with promoting social cohesion. Using detailed records tracking the movements and life histories of Finnish evacuees during World War II, we find that evacuees who intermarry are more likely to be educated, work in professional occupations, marry someone higher in social status and remain …
Sex, age, and family structure influence dispersal behaviour after a forced migration
Dispersal does not only mean moving from one environment to another, but can also refer to shifting from one social group to another. Individual characteristics such as sex, age and family structure might influence an individual's propensity to disperse. In this study, we use a unique dataset of an evacuated World War II Finnish population, to test how sex, age, number of siblings and birth order influence an individual's dispersal away from thei…
Why Cry? Adaptive Significance of Intensive Crying in Human Infants
Induced abortion ratio in modern Sweden falls with age, but rises again before menopause
Early Developmental conditions and reproductive success in humans
Growth, survival, and breeding success of individuals in populations of wild mammals are influenced by the climatic and nutritional conditions that individuals experience during their early development. Recent findings have shown that early conditions also have consequences for subsequent survival and reproductive performance in humans. Environmental conditions which affect early development of individuals, such as the quality and quantity of nut…
Fitness benefits of prolonged post-reproductive lifespan in women
Elder brothers affect the life history of younger siblings in preindustrial humans
Age at first reproduction and probability of reproductive failure in women
Facial attractiveness and fertility in populations with low levels of modern birth control
Life-history theory, reproduction and longevity in humans
The basic assumption underlying life-history theory is that natural selection has selected for an optimal combination of life-history traits that maximizes individual fitness. The best studied trade-offs include: investigating how individuals should allocate resources to reproduction versus their own growth and survival; and when reproducing, how should they divide their effort between current and future reproduction or between the number, sex, a…
Personality and long-term reproductive success measured by the number of grandchildren
Parent‐offspring conflict over family size in current China
OBJECTIVES: In China, the recent replacement of the one-child policy with a two-child policy could potentially change family ecology-parents may switch investment from exclusively one child to two. The parent-offspring conflict theory provides testable hypotheses concerning possible firstborn opposition toward further reproduction of their mother, and who wins the conflict. We tested the hypotheses that if there is any opposition, it will differ …
Self sacrifice and kin psychology in war
Whether to have a second child or not? An integrative approach to women's reproductive decision-making in current China
Integration involves a trade-off between fertility and status for World War II evacuees
Understanding how refugees integrate into host societies has broad implications for researchers interested in intergroup conflict and for governments concerned with promoting social cohesion. Using detailed records tracking the movements and life histories of Finnish evacuees during World War II, we find that evacuees who intermarry are more likely to be educated, work in professional occupations, marry someone higher in social status and remain …
Family dynamics and age-related patterns in marriage probability
Will granny save me? Birth status, survival, and the role of grandmothers in historical Finland
Intention to have a second child, family support and actual fertility behavior in current China
OBJECTIVES: This study provides an evolutionary perspective to a classic topic in demography, that is, the discrepancy between reproductive intention and subsequent behavior, in the context of China's two-child policy. METHODS: We conduct an event history analysis of longitudinal data from the 2015 and 2018 waves of the Xi'an Fertility Survey (sample size = 321 followed one-child mothers) to test the hypotheses of how within-family support/confli…
Sex, age, and family structure influence dispersal behaviour after a forced migration
Dispersal does not only mean moving from one environment to another, but can also refer to shifting from one social group to another. Individual characteristics such as sex, age and family structure might influence an individual's propensity to disperse. In this study, we use a unique dataset of an evacuated World War II Finnish population, to test how sex, age, number of siblings and birth order influence an individual's dispersal away from thei…
Grandmother Effects Over the Finnish Demographic Transition
Demographic transitions are defining events for human societies, marking shifts from natural mortality and fertility rates to the low rates seen in industrialised populations. These transitions can affect trait evolution through altering the direction and strength of selection when variance in fertility and mortality decline. One key feature of human evolution is the evolution of extended post-reproductive life through indirect fitness benefits f…
Close and more distant relatives are associated with child mortality risk in historical Finland
Humans are characterised as cooperative breeders, as not only the parents but also other members of the social group take part in raising offspring. The individuals who invest most in childrearing are usually the more closely related individuals. However, most studies have concentrated on close kin and the effects of more distant kin remain unknown. Here, we investigated the associations of child mortality (<5 years, n = 32,000 children) with the…
The role of living kin in later-life survival
Research on kinship and survival is well established in modern societies, but less is known about historical populations. This study examines the presence of children, siblings, and grandchildren in later life and their association with survival in pre-industrial Finland. We use records of 6,900 Finns born in 1740-1859 to estimate discrete-time hazard models for mortality at ages 50-90. At age 50, most individuals had at least one living child or…
Resources modify the associations between kin and fertility in historical Finland
Inclusive fitness theory predicts that to maximize fitness, individuals should invest in kin, but relatives can also compete for resources. These opposing forces can have opposite effects on fertility, which was further constrained by marital and inheritance norms in traditional Western societies. How available resources influence this balance between helping and competing remains poorly understood. To investigate whether kin help or harm fertili…
Population (16 works) · Biology (15 works) · Demography (15 works) · Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior (14 works) · Psychology (14 works) · Sociology (12 works) · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences (11 works) · Pregnancy (11 works) · Developmental psychology (10 works) · Offspring (10 works)