Table 1.

Theories of menopause

Explanation	Summary	References
Extended Lifespan	Recent extension of human lifespan results in women living beyond reproductive age	(Austad 1997)
Good Mother	Trade-off between giving up own reproduction (when there is a growing age-related mortality) in exchange of greater survival of depending children	(Williams 1957; Alexander 1974)
Grandmother Hypothesis	Menopause is the result of a trade-off between giving up own reproduction in exchange of:
	(1) Greater survival of kin	(Hawkes et al. 1998)
	(2) Reduced mate competition with relatives	(Cant & Johnstone 2008; Johnstone & Cant 2010)
Better Longer	Post-reproductive lifespan results from unidirectional selection against death before completion of reproductive life	(Tully & Lambert 2011)

Summary of evolutionary explanations for menopause.