Main description:

As widespread social transformations have been paralleled by gains in health and life expectancy through public health and other improvements, a variety of other challenges to health have emerged, particularly in lifestyle related, behaviourally mediated changes in rates of chronic disease. Hormones, Health and Behavior looks at the relationship of human biology and human society at the intersection of behavior, hormones and health. There is both scientific interest and practical urgency behind the ideas and findings presented here, as the need for a socio-ecological view of function and well-being has become more apparent. This book documents an emerging understanding of how hormones create linkage between behavior or social life and health. It will inform graduate students and researchers interested in human sciences, human development, anthropology, epidemiology, public environmental and reproductive health.

Contents:

1. Contributions of biological anthropology to the study of hormones, health and behavior C. Panter-Brick and C. M. Worthman; 2. Hormonal correlates of personality and social contexts: from non-human to human primates R. M. Sapolsky; 3. Epidemiology of human development C. M. Worthman; 4. Family environment, stress and health during childhood M. V. Flinn; 5. Work and hormonal variation in subsistence and industrial contexts C. Panter-Brick and T. M. Pollard; 6. Reproductive ecology and reproductive cancers P. T. Ellison; 7. Diet, hormones and health: an evolutionary-ecological perspective P. L. Whitten; 8. Modernisation, psychosocial factors, insulin and cardiovascular health S. T. McGarvey; Index.