The categories of evidence relating to the hypothesis that mammalian sex ratios at birth are causally related to the hormone concentrations of both parents around the time of conception

J Biosoc Sci. 2011 Mar;43(2):167-84. doi: 10.1017/S0021932010000660.

Abstract

This note categorizes the evidence for the hypothesis that mammalian offspring sex ratios (proportions male) are causally related to the hormone levels of both parents around the time of conception. Most of the evidence may be acknowledged to be correlational and observational. As such it might be suspected of having been selected; or of having been subject to other forms of bias or confounding; or, at any rate, of being inadequate as a firm basis for causal inference. However, there are other types of evidence that are not vulnerable to these types of criticism. These are from the following sources: (1) previously neglected data from Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia; (2) fulfilled predictions; (3) genetics; and (4) a network of logically (mathematically) related propositions, for some of which there is overwhelming empirical evidence. It is suggested that this variety of evidence confers greater overall credibility on the hypothesis than would be the case if all the evidence were of the same observational/correlational status. This observational/correlational evidence is tabulated to illustrate its consistency.

Publication types

  • Historical Article

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Female
  • Fertilization / physiology
  • Germany
  • Gonadal Steroid Hormones / blood
  • Gonadal Steroid Hormones / physiology*
  • History, 20th Century
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Models, Biological*
  • National Socialism / history
  • Sex Determination Processes / drug effects
  • Sex Determination Processes / genetics
  • Sex Determination Processes / physiology*
  • Sex Ratio*
  • USSR

Substances

  • Gonadal Steroid Hormones