HEALTH RESEARCH - STUDY SAYS ADVENT OF STIs PROBABLY TRIGGERED MONOGAMY IN HUMANS

The advent of monogamy among early humans was likely triggered in part by sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

Peer pressure, along with the presence of STIs, could have caused one partner to become the social norm among prehistoric humans.

Researchers at the University of Waterloo in Canada used computer models to look at how mating behaviours changed in human populations over time.

They found that the spread of contagious diseases such as STIs can shape the development of social norms.

STIs can lead to decreased fertility rates among men, therefore mating behaviour needs to change to stop population growth from stalling in the event of an outbreak.

The impact of infertility from syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhoea on large hunter-gatherer tribes - for example - would be so disastrous that it became beneficial for monogamy to become the norm.

Study author Chris Bauch said: "This research shows how events in natural systems, such as the spread of contagious diseases, can strongly influence the development of social norms and in particular our group-oriented judgements.

"Our social norms did not develop in complete isolation from what was happening in our natural environment.

"On the contrary, we can't understand social norms without understanding their origins in our natural environment."

The study was published in the Nature Communications journal.

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