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The pregnancy compensation hypothesis, not the staying alive theory, accounts for disparate autoimmune functioning of women around the world

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 July 2022

Erin M. O'Mara Kunz Open the ORCID record for Erin M. O'Mara Kunz [Opens in a new window] ,
Jackson A. Goodnight  and
Melissa A. Wilson
Erin M. O'Mara Kunz
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Dayton, Dayton, OH 45469, USA [email protected] [email protected]://sites.google.com/udayton.edu/erinomarakunz
Jackson A. Goodnight
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Dayton, Dayton, OH 45469, USA [email protected] [email protected]://sites.google.com/udayton.edu/erinomarakunz
Melissa A. Wilson
Affiliation:
School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281, USA [email protected]
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Abstract

The pregnancy compensation hypothesis provides a mechanistic explanation for the evolution of sex differences in immune system functioning, the excess of women experiencing autoimmune disease, and why this is observed only in industrialized nations; none of which can be explained by the staying alive theory, as proposed by the authors of the target article.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 45 , 2022 , e145
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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