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Widow and widower remarriage: An analysis in a rural 19th century Costa Rican population and a cross‐cultural discussion
Author(s) -
Madrigal L.,
Ware B.,
Melendez M.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/ajpa.10282
Subject(s) - remarriage , perspective (graphical) , population , sociology , gender studies , demography , anthropology , artificial intelligence , computer science
Although the topic of remarriage features saliently in the cultural anthropological literature, it is virtually absent in the biological anthropology journals. This is perplexing, given that remarriage affects the differential reproductive success of males and females in a community, and could well impact a community's population structure. In this paper, we research remarriage practices in a rural 19th century community in Costa Rica. Although we find support for the proposition that males are more likely to remarry than females, we find that widows who remarry are not all young and able to reproduce. Our findings support the cross‐culturally‐generated suggestion that a female's ability not to remarry is tied to her to ability to own property. Remarriage is a topic of interest to biological anthropologists from a cross‐cultural and biocultural perspective. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.