Agonistic stress in early adolescence and its effects on reproductive effort in young adulthood

Abstract

Agonistic stress (AS) is normally associated with the suppression of fertility behavior; however, there are conditions under which the association is reversed. In this article, we investigate the effects of AS using longitudinal data from a large sample ( n=9731) of young adults in the United States. We find that repeated exposure to AS is associated with early fertility, higher fertility over a 10-year period, and low investment in long-term mating relationships. The association of AS with early fertility and mating behavior is mediated by antisocial preferences. However, the positive association between AS and fertility behavior over the long run is robust with respect to the controls in the model. We believe that our findings align well with studies showing increased reproductive effort in response to agonistic interactions with conspecifics.