Sean Prall
Assistant Professor
Department of Anthropology
UCLA
I am an Assistant Professor in Anthropology at UCLA with a focus on health and reproductive decision-making. I am the co-director of the Kunene Rural Health and Demography Project, based in rural Namibia, where I have worked since 2016. I am currently the PI of a project, jointly funded by the National Science Foundation and the Social Science Research Council’s Mercury Project, to examine individual, economic, and cultural factors that mediate vaccination decisions in Namibia. My work employs a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, including anthropometrics, demography, endocrinology, actigraphy, surveys and interviews, and dyadic peer ratings. In combining these methods, I am to develop a more holistic picture of health behavior. In addition to my work in Namibia, I am also a contributor to the NSF-funded ENDOW project on cross-cultural inequality, and a collaborator on the Shodagor Longitudinal Health and Demography Project in Bangladesh. I am also a board member of the One Pencil Project, a non-profit focused on health and education in the Kunene.
Publications
Prall SP, Scelza BA, Davis HE. 2024. Context dependent preferences in prestige bias learning about vaccination in rural Namibian pastoralists. Social Science & Medicine 362: 117461. pdf | SI | data and code
Prall SP. 2024. Quantifiable cross-cultural research on medical mistrust is necessary for effective and equitable vaccination in low- and middle-income countries. Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health. pdf
Meeks GL, Scelza BA, Asnake HM, Prall SP, Patin E, Froment A, Fagny M, Quintana-Murci L, Henn BM, Gopalan S. 2024. Common DNA sequence variation influences epigenetic aging in African populations. bioRxiv preprint.
Prall SP, Scelza BA, Davis HE. 2024. Medical mistrust, discrimination, and healthcare experiences in a rural Namibian community. Global Public Health 19(1): 2346207. pdf | SI | data and code
Page AE, Ringen EJ, Koster J, Borgerhoff Mulder M, Kramer K, Shenk M, Steiglitz J, Starkweather K, Ziker J, Boyette A, Colleran H, Moya C, Du J, Mattison S, Greaves R, Sum C, Lui R, Lew-Levy S, Kiabiya Ntamboudila F, Prall S, Towner M, Blumfield T, Migliano AB, Major-Smith D, Dyble M, Salali GD, Chaudhary N, Derkx I, Ross C, Scelza B, Gurven M, Winterhalder B, Cortez C, Pacheco-Cobo L, Schacht R, Macfarlan SJ, Leonetti D, French JC, Alam N, tuz Zohora F, Sear R. 2024. Women’s subsistence strategies predict fertility across cultures, but context matters. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 121(9): e2318181121. pdf | SI | data and code | Brunel Press Release
Prall SP, Scelza BA. 2024. The causes and consequences of women’s status in Himba pastoralists. Evolution & Human Behavior 45(1): 111-120. pdf | data and code | Durkee reply
Walker RS, Flinn MV, Prall SP, Hamilton HJ. 2023. Remote sensing evidence for population growth of isolated indigenous societies in Amazonia. Scientific Reports 13:22448. pdf | preprint | code
Prall SP, Scelza BA, Trumble B. 2023. Stress and androgens in Himba women. Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology 9: 371-386. pdf | data and code
Swinford NA, Prall SP, Gopalan S, Williams CM, Sheehama J, Scelza BA, Henn BM. 2023. Increased homozygosity due to endogamy results in fitness consequences in a human population. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 120(43) e2309552120. pdf | preprint | SI | data and code | UC Davis Press Release
Scelza BA, Prall SP. 2023. Only death will separate us: the role of extramarital partnerships among Himba pastoralists. Archives of Sexual Behavior 52: 1355-1363. pdf | SI | data and code
Swinford NA, Gallagher B, Sheehama J, Lin M, Prall SP, Scelza BA, Henn BM. 2023. Examination of runs of homozygosity in relation to height in an endogamous Namibian Population. American Journal of Biological Anthropology 180(1): 207-215. pdf | data and code
Prall SP, Scelza BA. 2023. The dietary impacts of drought in a traditional pastoralist economy. American Journal of Human Biology 35(1): e23803. pdf
Prall SP, Scelza BA. 2022. The effect of mating market dynamics on partner preference and relationship quality among Himba pastoralists. Science Advances 8(18):eabm5629. pdf | SI | code | MU Press Release
Starkweather KE, Keith MH, Prall SP, Alam N, tuz Zohora F, Thompson ME. 2021. Are fathers a good substitute for mothers? Paternal care and growth rates in Shodagor children. Developmental Psychobiology 63(6): e22148. pdf | SI
Scelza BA, Prall SP, Starkweather KE. 2021. The role of spousal separation on norms related to gender and sexuality among Himba pastoralists. Social Sciences 10(5):174. pdf | SI
Prall SP, Scelza BA. 2020. Resource demands reduce partner discrimination in Himba women. Evolutionary Human Sciences 2:E45. pdf | SI
Broesch T, Crittenden AN, Beheim BA, Blackwell AD, Bunce JA, Colleran H, Hagel K, Kline M, McElreath R, Nelson RG, Pisor AC, Prall SP, Pretelli I, Purzycki B, Quinn EA, Ross C, Scelza B, Starkweather K, Stieglitz J, Borgerhoff-Mulder M. 2020. Navigating cross-cultural research: methodological and ethical considerations. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 287:20201245. pdf | AAAS Press Release
Scelza BA, Atkinson E, Prall SP, McElreath R, Sheehama J, Henn BM. 2020. The ethics and logistics of field-based paternity studies. Evolutionary Human Sciences 2:E22 1-19. pdf
Prall SP, Scelza BA. 2020. Why men invest in non-biological offspring: paternal care and paternity confidence among Himba pastoralists. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 287:20192890. pdf | data and code | SI | Conversation Piece
Scelza BA, Prall SP, Swinford N, Gopalan S, Atkinson E, McElreath R, Sheehama J, Henn BM. 2020. High rate of extra-pair paternity in a human population demonstrates diversity in human reproductive strategies. Science Advances 6(8): eaa6195. pdf | code | SI | UCLA Press Release | Conversation Piece
Scelza BA, Prall SP, Starkweather K. 2020. Paternity and social obligations explain men’s allocations to romantic partners in an experimental giving game. Evolution and Human Behavior 41: 96-102. pdf | data and code | SI
Scelza BA, Prall SP, Blumenfeld T, Crittenden AN, Gurven M, Kline M, Koster J, Kuschnik G, Mattison SM, Pillsworth E, Shenk MK, Starkweather K, Stieglitz J, Sum CY, Yamaguchi K, McElreath R. 2020. Patterns of paternal investment predict cross-cultural variation in jealous response. Nature Human Behaviour 4: 20-26. pdf | data and code | SI | UCLA Press Release
Scelza BA, Prall SP, Levine N. 2019. The disequilibrium of double descent: changing inheritance norms among Himba pastoralists. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 374:20180072. pdf | data and code | SI
Prall SP, Yetish G, Scelza BA, Siegel JM. 2018. The influence of age and sex specific labor demands on sleep in Namibian agro-pastoralists. Sleep Health 4(6): 500-508. pdf
Scelza BA, Prall SP. 2018. Partner preferences in the context of concurrency: what Himba want in formal and informal partners. Evolution and Human Behavior 39:212-219. pdf | data and code | SI
Longman D, Prall SP, Shattuck EC, Stephen ID, Stock JT, Wells JCK, Muehlenbein MP. 2018. Short-term resource allocation during extensive athletic competition. American Journal of Human Biology 30: e23052. pdf
Prall SP, Muehlenbein MP. 2018. DHEA modulates immune function: a review of the evidence. In: G Litwack (ed), Dehydroepiandrosterone. Elsevier Press. pdf
Tieder JS, Prall SP, Beck J, Alberda E, Jensen D, Nair D, Carline JD. 2017. A survey of perceived effectiveness of Part 4 Maintenance of Certification. Hospital Pediatrics, 7(11): 642-648.
Prall SP, Scelza BA. 2017. Child fosterage and sex-biased nutritional outcomes among Namibian Pastoralists. American Journal of Human Biology 29(6): e23058. pdf | SI
Hodges-Simeon CR, Prall SP, Blackwell A, Gurven M, Gaulin SJC. 2017. Adrenal maturation, nutritional status and mucosal immunity in Bolivian youth. American Journal of Human Biology 29(5): e23025. pdf
Prall SP, Larson EE, Muehlenbein MP. 2017. The role of dehydroepiandrosterone on functional innate immune responses to acute stress. Stress and Health 33:656-664. pdf
Prall SP, Muehlenbein MP. 2017. Hormonal correlates of dominance. In: A Fuentes (ed), International Encyclopedia of Primatology, Wiley-Blackwell. pdf
Muehlenbein MP, Prall SP, Peck HN. 2017. Immunity, hormones and life history trade-offs. In: Jasienska G, Sherry DS, Holmes DJ (eds). The Arc of Life: Evolution and health over the life course. Springer Press, p. 99-120. pdf
Prall SP, Muehlenbein MP. Dehydroepiandrosterone and multiple measures of functional immunity in young adults. 2015. American Journal of Human Biology 27(6):877-880. pdf
Georgiev AV, Muehlenbein M, Prall SP, Emery-Thompson M, Maestripieri D. 2015. Male quality, dominance rank and mating success in free-ranging rhesus macaques. Behavioral Ecology 26(3):763-772. pdf
Prall SP, Ambu L, Nathan S, Alsisto S, Ramirez D, Muehlenbein MP. 2015. Androgens and innate immunity in rehabilitated semi-captive Orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus morio). American Journal of Primatology 77(6):642-650. pdf
Muehlenbein MP, Pacheco MA, Taylor JE, Prall SP, Ambu L, Nathan S, Alsisto S, Ramirez D, Escalante AA. 2015. Accelerated diversification of non-human primate malarias in Southeast Asia: adaptive radiation or geographic speciation? Molecular Biology and Evolution 32(2):422-439. pdf
Prall SP, Muehlenbein MP. 2014. Testosterone and immune function in primates: A brief summary with methodological considerations. International Journal of Primatology 35(3-4): 805-824. pdf
Muehlenbein MP, Ancrenaz M, Sakong R, Ambu L, Prall SP, Fuller G, Raghanti MA. 2012. Ape conservation physiology: Fecal glucocorticoid responses in wild Pongo pygmaeus morio following human visitation. PLoS ONE 7(3): e33357. pdf
Streeter M, Prall SP, Hill C. 2008. Paleohistological Study of Pleistocene Mammoth (Mammuthus) Bone. Current Research in the Pleistocene 25:189-191.
Courses taught at UCLA
Coming soon
Courses taught at Mizzou
- Anthro 1000 - Introduction to anthropology: biology, prehistory, and culture
- Anthro 1560 - Outbreaks and the anthropology of emerging disease
- Anthro 2580 - Evolution of Human Sexuality
- Anthro 4300/7300 - Comparative Social Organization
- Anthro 4580/7580 - Evolutionary Medicine
sprall@ucla.edu