See also my google scholar page.
Edited Volumes
Lawson DW, Alami S, Starkweather K, Somefun OD. (Editors) (2023). Gendered conflict in the human family. Evolutionary Human Sciences.
Lawson DW, Sear R, Shenk M, Stearns S & Kaplan H. (Editors). (2016). Understanding Variation in Human Fertility: What Can We Learn From Evolutionary Demography? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 371(1692).
Gibson MA & Lawson DW. (Editors). (2014). Applied Evolutionary Anthropology: Darwinian Approaches to Contemporary World Issues. New York: Springer.
Working papers
Matungwa DJ, Lawson DW, Wamoyi J, Tingira T, Sambaiga R, Rafiq MY, Pungu D, Okello E, Nyato D, Mutebi S, Mwaipopo R, Mshana G, Michael D, Mangola SM, Mabulla IA, Laltaika E, Kopels MC, Kilgallen JA, John A, Deane K, Crittenden AN, Borgerhoff Mulder M, Ishungisa AM. (in review). A Turning Point for Anthropology: Tanzania as a Case Study.
Chen Z, Lin J, Dambanemuya HK, & Lawson DW. (in review). The cultural evolution of gender norms: demography and social learning impact norm misperception dynamics in a US sample.
Kilgallen JA, Ishungisa AM, Pungu DC, Mabula E, Katunzi F, Charles PS, Nicholaus I, Mang’era CW, Kumogola Y, Brulhart E, Matungwa D, Micheal D, Lawson DW. (in review). Which young men support women’s empowerment and why? A positive deviance study of supportive men from Northwest Tanzania.
Spake L, Hassan A, Dube A, Mwalwanda L, Munthali S, Badjie J, Zohora FT, Hawara E, Mawelera G, Taiwo I, Caba S, Cerami C, Prentice A, Crampin A, Alam N, Schaffnit S, Matungwa DJ, Michael D, Lawson DW, Shenk M, Sosis R, Sear R, Shaver JH. (in prep). What is a father’s role? Men’s perspectives on their contributions to raising children in four countries.
Op-Eds
Lawson DW. (2025). American hypocrisy is holding back global efforts to end child marriage. The Fulcrum.
Lawson DW (2025). Rethinking polygamy – new research upends conventional thinking about the advantages of monogamous marriage. The Conversation.
Journal Articles and Book Chapters
Hassan A, Lawson DW, Schaffnit SB, Urassa M, Sear R. (in press). Childcare in transition: evidence that market integration alters childcare arrangements in north-western Tanzania. Demography.
2026
Agey E, Conroy-Beam, Lawson D.W. (2026). The role and consequences of arranged marriage in the evolution of human mating. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News and Reviews 35:e70035
Kilgallen JA, Schaffnit SB, Kumogola Y, Urassa M, Lawson DW (2026). Understanding gender differences in acceptance of intimate partner violence against women: are women truly more accepting than men? Journal of Interpersonal Violence 41: 1911-1928.
Kilgallen JA, Ishungisa AM, Charles P, Chizi TM, John A, Nicholaus I, Sebarua E, Urassa M, Lawson DW. (2026). “A snake with no teeth”: urbanization shifts perceptions of men who support women’s empowerment in Northwestern Tanzania. World Development 199: 107239
2025
Lawson DW & Chen Z (2025). When parental care hurts: extended parental care and the evolution of overparenting. Evolution, Medicine and Public Health 13: 331-343.
Brand CO, Ishungisa AM, Kilgallen JA, Pungu DC, Mabula E, Katunzi F, Nicholaus I, Mang’era CW, Charles PC, Kumugola Y, Urassa M, Lawson DW. (2025). The social performance of gender roles: men report lower support for women’s empowerment when in front of their peers. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 380: 20240267.
Ishungisa AM, Kilgallen JA, Mabula E, Brand CO, Urassa M, Lawson DW. (2025). What do other men think? Understanding (mis)perceptions of peer gender role ideology among young Tanzanian men. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 31: 144-161.
Boyette AH, van der Wal JEM, Lawson DW, Asatsa S, Gichimu EW, Hays J, Ishungisa AM, Kamboe WBW, Kandza V, Lew-Levy S, McKenzie J, Moussavou G, Obasi A, Panyakotkaew A, Penrach S, Taylor H, Kendal RL (2025). Advancing equity in collaborative research: reflections from the Cultural Evolution Society Transformation Fund. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 380: 20240269.
Kilgallen JA, Ishungisa AM, Sebarua E, Charles P, John A, Chizi TM, Nicholaus I, Urassa M, Lawson DW. (2025). "You are married by the woman”: Divergent understandings of men’s support for women’s empowerment in Northern Tanzania. Men and Masculinities 28: 306-327.
Ishungisa AM, Kilgallen JA, Mabula E, Brand CO, Urassa M, Lawson DW. (2025). Prestige and gender role ideology: a study of young Tanzanian men.Evolutionary Human Sciences 7, e10.
Hassan A, Lawson DW, Page AE, Sear R, Schaffnit SB, Urassa M. (2025). Children’s caregiving and growth in north-western Tanzania: limited evidence that support from specific caregivers is associated with better growth. American Journal of Human Biology 37.
2024
Lawson DW, Chen Z, Kilgallen JA, Brand CO, Ishungisa AM, Schaffnit S, Kumogola Y, Urassa M. (2024). Misperception of peer beliefs reinforces inequitable gender norms among Tanzanian men.Evolutionary Human Sciences.
Lawson DW & Gibson MA. (2024). Evolutionary Approaches to Population Health: Insights on Polygynous Marriage, ‘Child Marriage’ and Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting. In Burger O, Lee R & Sear, R. (Eds). Human Evolutionary Demography. Open Book Publishers.
Lawson DW. Parental care. (2024). In Koster J, Scelza B, Shenk M (Eds). Human Behavioral Ecology. Cambridge University Press.
2023
Lawson DW, Alami S, Somefun OD. (2023). Gendered conflict in the human family. Evolutionary Human Sciences 5 e12.
2022
Baraka J, Lawson DW, Schaffnit SB, Wamoyi, J, Urassa M (2022). Why marry early? Parental influence, agency and gendered conflict in Tanzanian marriages. Evolutionary Human Sciences 4, e12, 1–18.
Kilgallen JA, Schaffnit SB, Kumogola Y, Galura A, Urassa M. Lawson DW, (2022). Positive correlation between women’s status and intimate partner violence suggests violence backlash in Mwanza, Tanzania.Journal of Interpersonal Violence. 37 (21-22), NP20331-NP20360
2021
Lawson DW, Schaffnit SB, Kilgallen JA, Kumogola Y, Galura A & Urassa M. (2021). He for She? Variation and exaggeration in men’s support for women’s empowerment in northern Tanzania. Evolutionary Human Sciences. 3: E27.
Urassa M, Lawson DW, Wamoyi J, Gurmu E, Gibson MA, Madhivanan P, Placek C. (2021). Cross-cultural research must prioritize equitable collaboration. Nature Human Behaviour. 5:668-671.
Schaffnit SB & Lawson DW. (2021). Married too young? The behavioral ecology of 'child marriage'. Social Sciences. 10: 161.
Lawson DW, Schaffnit SB, Hassan A, & Urassa M. (2021). Shared interests or sexual conflict? Spousal age gap, women’s wellbeing and fertility in rural Tanzania. Evolution and Human Behavior. 42: 165-175
Schaffnit SB, Urassa M, Wamoyi J, Dardoumpa M, & Lawson DW. (2021). “I have never seen something like that”: Discrepancies between lived experiences and the global health concept of child marriage in northern Tanzania. PLOS ONE. 16(4): e0249200
Schaffnit SB, Wamoyi J, Urassa M, Dardoumpa M, & Lawson DW. (2021). When marriage is the best available option: perceptions of opportunity and risk in female adolescence in Tanzania. Global Public Health. 16: 1820–1833
Lawson DW. (2021). Book Review: Are Men Animals? How modern masculinity sells men short. Men and Masculinities.
2020
Lawson DW, Lynes R, Morris A & Schaffnit SB. (2020). What does the American public know about 'child marriage'?PLOS ONE 15(9):e0238346.
Berg V, Lawson DW, Rotkirch A. (2020). Financial opportunity costs and deaths among close kin are independently associated with reproductive timing in a contemporary high-income society.Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 287: 20192478.
Schaffnit SB, Urassa M & Lawson DW. (2019). ‘Child marriage’ in context: Exploring local attitudes towards early marriage in rural Tanzania. Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters. 27:1–13
Schaffnit SB, Hassan A, Urassa M & Lawson DW. (2019). Parent-offspring conflict unlikely to explain ‘child marriage’ in northwestern Tanzania. Nature Human Behaviour. 3:346-353.
2019
Hedges S, Lawson DW, Todd J, Urassa M & Sear R. (2019). Sharing the load: the influence of co-resident children on the allocation of work and schooling in north-western Tanzania. Demography. 56:1931–1956
Hedges S, Sear R, Todd J, Urassa M & Lawson DW. (2019). Earning their keep? Fostering, children’s education and work in north-western Tanzania. Demographic Research. 41:263-292.
Hassan A, Schaffnit SB, Sear R, Urassa M & Lawson DW. (2019). Fathers favour sons, mothers don’t discriminate: sex-biased parental care in north-western Tanzania. Evolutionary Human Sciences. 1, e13.
2018
Lawson DW& Gibson MA. (2018). Understanding ‘Harmful Cultural Practices.’Anthropology News 59:3; e219-e222.
Hedges S, Sear R, Todd J, Urassa M, & Lawson DW. (2018). Trade-offs in time allocation: Mixed support for embodied capital models of the demographic transition in rural Tanzania. Current Anthropology 59: 644-654.
Gibson MA & Lawson DW. (2018). Population issues in development. International Encyclopedia of Anthropology. Wiley.
Lawson DW & Gibson MA. (2018). Polygynous marriage and child health in Sub-Saharan Africa: What is the evidence for harm?Demographic Research 39:177–208.
2017
Lawson DW, Núñez-de la Mora A, Cooper GD, Prentice AM, Moore SE, Sear R. (2017). Marital status and sleeping arrangements predict salivary testosterone levels in rural Gambian men. Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology 3: 221-240.
Lawson DW, Schaffnit SB, Hassan A, Ngadaya E, Ngowi B, Mfinanga SGM, James S, Borgerhoff Mulder M. (2017). Father absence but not fosterage predicts food insecurity, relative poverty, and poor child health in northern Tanzania. American Journal of Human Biology 29 e22938.
2016
Sear R, Lawson DW, Kaplan H, Shenk M. (2016). Understanding variation in human fertility: What can we learn from evolutionary demography?Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 371, 20150144
Lawson DW & Borgerhoff Mulder M. (2016). The offspring quantity-quality trade-off and human fertility variation. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 371, 20150145.
Lawson DW, Sear R, Shenk M, Stearns S & Kaplan H. (Editors). (2016). Understanding Variation in Human Fertility: What Can We Learn From Evolutionary Demography?Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 371(1692).
Lawson DW, James S, Ngadaya E, Ngowi B, Mfinanga SGM, Borgerhoff Mulder M. (2016). Reply to Rieger and Wagner: Context matters when studying purportedly harmful cultural practices.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 113(13), E1771-E1772
2015
Lawson DW, James S, Ngadaya E, Ngowi B, Mfinanga SGM, Borgerhoff Mulder M. (2015). No evidence that polygynous marriage is a harmful cultural practice in northern Tanzania. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 112(45), 13827-13832.
Lawson DW& Hedges S. (2015). The costs and benefits of child labour. Current Anthropology 56, 545-568.
Hedges S, Borgerhoff Mulder M, James S & Lawson DW. (2015). Sending children to school: rural livelihoods and parental investment in child education in northern Tanzania.Evolution & Human Behavior 37:142-151.
Gibson MA & Lawson DW. (2015). Applying evolutionary anthropology.Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News and Reviews 24(1): 3-14
2014
Lawson DW, Borgerhoff Mulder M, Ghiselli ME, Ngadaya E, Ngowi B, Mfinanga SGM, Hartwig K. & James S. (2014). Ethnicity and child health in northern Tanzania: Maasai pastoralists are disadvantaged compared to neighbouring ethnic groups.PLOS ONE 9: e110447.
Pound N, Lawson DW, Toma, A.M & Richmond, R. Penton-Voak, I. (2014). Facial asymmetry is not associated with childhood ill-health in a large British cohort study. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 282:20141639.
Lawson DW & Uggla C. (2014). Family structure and health in the developing world: What can evolutionary anthropology contribute to population health science. In Gibson MA & Lawson DW. (Eds) Applied Evolutionary Anthropology: Darwinian Approaches to Contemporary World Issues. New York: Springer.
Gibson MA & Lawson DW. (2014). Applying evolutionary anthropology to a changing world. In Gibson MA & Lawson DW. (Eds) Applied Evolutionary Anthropology: Darwinian Approaches to Contemporary World Issues. Springer.
Gibson MA & Lawson DW. (Editors). (2014). Applied Evolutionary Anthropology: Darwinian Approaches to Contemporary World Issues. New York: Springer.
2013
Lawson DW, Makoil A & Goodman A. (2013). Sibling configuration predicts individual and descendant socioeconomic success in a modern post-industrial society. PLOS ONE 8: e73698.
Nettle D, Gibson MA, Lawson DW & Sear, R. (2013). Human behavioural ecology: Current research and future prospects. Behavioural Ecology 24: 1031-1040.
Nettle D, Gibson MA, Lawson DW, & Sear R. (2013). How much you need to engage with mechanism depends on what you are trying to do.Behavioral Ecology 24: 1046-1047
Alvergne A. Lawson DW, Clarke P & Mace, R. (2013). Fertility, parental investment and the early adoption of modern contraception in rural Ethiopia. American Journal of Human Biology 25: 107-15.
2012
Lawson DW, Alvergne A. & Gibson MA. (2012). The life history trade-off between fertility and child survival. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 279: 1748 4755-4764.
Goodman A, Koupil I & Lawson DW. (2012). Low fertility increases descendant socioeconomic position but reduces long-term fitness in a modern post-industrial society. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 279:4342-4351.
2011
Lawson DW& Mace R. (2011). Parental investment and the optimization of human family size.Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 366, 333-343.
Gibson MA & Lawson DW. (2011). ‘Modernization’ increases parental investment and sibling resource competition: evidence from a rural development initiative in Ethiopia. Evolution & Human Behavior 32, 97-105.
Lawson DW. (2011). Life history theory and human reproductive behaviour. In Swami, V. (Ed) Evolutionary Psychology: A Critical Introduction pp. 183-214. BPS: Blackwell.
Lawson DW.(2011). A review of ‘Animal homosexuality: a biosocial approach’ by A. Poiani. Animal Behaviour 81, 499.
2010
Lawson DW& Mace R. (2010). Siblings and childhood mental health: evidence for a later-born advantage. Social Science and Medicine 70, 2061-2069.
Lawson DW& Mace R. (2010). Optimizing modern family size: trade-offs between fertility and the economic costs of reproduction. Human Nature 21, 39-61.
2009
Lawson DW& Mace R. (2009). Trade-offs in modern parenting: a longitudinal study of sibling competition for parental care.Evolution & Human Behavior 30, 170-183.
2008
Lawson DW& Mace R. (2008). Sibling configuration and childhood growth in contemporary British families. International Journal of Epidemiology 37, 1408-1421.
Lawson DW, Jordan FM & Magid, K. (2008). On sex and suicide bombing: an evaluation of Kanazawa’s ‘Evolutionary Psychological Imagination’. Journal of Evolutionary Psychology 6, 73-84.
2007
Sear R, Lawson DW& Dickins T. (2007). Synthesis in the human evolutionary behavioural sciences. Journal of Evolutionary Psychology 5 3-28.
Lawson DW. (2007). Frustrated felines and excited ungulates: a review of ‘Homosexual behaviour in animals – an evolutionary perspective’. Edited by V. Sommer and P. Vasey. Journal of Evolutionary Psychology 5, 257-260.
Scott BE, Lawson DW& Curtis V. (2007). Hard to handle: understanding mother’s handwashing behaviour in Ghana.Health Policy & Planning 22 216-224