9/11-Linked Miscarriages Suggest Boys More Vulnerable to Stress

[Steve M.]

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/209265-9-11-Linked-Miscarriages-Suggest-Boys-More-Vulnerable-to-Stress

The stress of 9/11 may have increased the number of boy babies that miscarried, and the effect extended far beyond New York City.

After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, there was a small but real rise in the number of miscarriages across the country -- especially for women who were pregnant with boys.
...
"The stress of a mother affects the fetus, and it's not just these individual stressors like whether you had a divorce or lost your job, but also these ambient stressors, like the economy and September 11," said Tim Bruckner, a population health researcher at the University of California, Irvine. "The effects resonated across the entire society. We were essentially bereaving what we saw on TV."

In the United States an average of 105 boys are born for every 100 girls. But in times of stress, like after natural disasters or economic collapse, studies have shown that the ratio drops, and fewer boys are born than expected. So far, it hasn't been clear why.

One theory is that stress harms sperm that bear Y-chromosomes. It could also be that people simply have less sex during stressful times, which might favor girls. Or perhaps something happens during pregnancy to affect the birth ratio.
...
The numbers showed a three percent increase in the number of male babies that miscarried after 9/11, the researchers reported in the journal BMC Public Health. Over the next few months, the ratio of boys born compared to girls dropped accordingly. Based on research in guinea pigs and other animals, scientists suspect that exposure to stress hormones kills more male fetuses than females.

"This is an unusually rigorous and careful demonstration of something that I think is intrinsically interesting," said Robert Trivers, an evolutionary biologist at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

"It is not at all obvious that a traumatic, single-day event to which people are personally unconnected is something that would reverberate all across the United States inside mother's wombs, claiming an extra set of males," he said. "Yet their evidence is very compelling that exactly that happened."

The tendency of an extremely anxious woman to miscarry male babies might have developed in our ancestors as a way to maximize the number of grandchildren she would eventually have, Bruckner said.
...
If conditions turned sour during a pregnancy, on the other hand, it might be best for a woman to miscarry a male baby and try again next year when life is less stressful.

The new study doesn't offer any obvious advice to pregnant women about how to avoid miscarriages, Bruckner said. Instead, it highlights one of the ways that collective stress can impact the health of our nation at its core.

Women are more empathic on average. There is the idea/issue of 1 in 10 males being more apt to ponerological mental/emotional disorders (born psychopaths and/or the rest of us, susceptible to pathology('s)), vs. a 1 in 100 for females (the other 99 females like the other 9 males, also susceptible to Pathology). It seems obvious to me, though I could be mistaken that males do not handle stress as well as females.

An example 'might' be that a woman might break down and cry while dealing with stress where men might break things (window, door, a person.. rages, impulses) instead. We seem to, based on the two species (male or female), have different coping mechanisms. Sure their are women who will climb a clock tower as well, but on average more males commit such acts of harm.

I'm no expert on this but it brings up food for thought. Just hoped to share some thoughts, maybe gain some feedback and see if my thinking made sense or if I'm off in the deep end. Doesn't seem like it'll be long before the (so called) 'world of men' will be put in its place. Very interesting article.

 

[Nawd]

It also could be that stress changes eating habits. According to other research, eating very well (ie more nutrient foods) would yeald favor towards a male child. Maybe stressed out sensitive empathtic women eat more 'empty' foods while dealing with stress.

_http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/3340540/Diet-before-pregnancy-can-affect-babys-sex-new-research-suggests.html