Religion influence on life history traits heritability

Abstract

Reproductive fitness refers to the gene transfer from one generation to the subsequent one. Fitness traits or life history traits (LHT) include measurements of fertility and mortality and are influenced by both environmental and genetic factors. Economic, social and cultural factors influenced family size . Although the influence of religion on pre-industrial populations has not been widely studied, some works in European post-industrial populations showed that religion (Catholicism and Protestantism) may affect fitness . The main goal of this contribution is to determine the degree of differences in the heritability values of LHT between Protestants and Catholics to check the influence of religion on fitness.