Beyond the nuclear family: an evolutionary perspective on parenting

Abstract

There has been a recent shift in the evolutionary behavioural sciences towards the view that parenting in our species is cooperative, and that mothers require help from others to raise children successfully. This shift is not yet reflected in psychological models of parenting, which still emphasise the centrality of the nuclear family. This emphasis is problematic both because it neglects the importance of alloparents, and because it assumes the fathering role is consistent across societies. While paternal investment is often substantial in our species, it is also shows considerable ecological variability. This article highlights recent, cross-cultural research on the cooperative nature of human 'parenting', and illustrates the flexible nature of both parenting and alloparenting across human societies.

Matrilateral Bias in Human Grandmothering

“…However, analyses of "load lightening" and its effects in birds have not incorporated the possibility that the assisted breeders might then provide help to kin of the original helpers, perhaps because helping is a pre-reproductive life stage in most cooperatively breeding birds and collateral nepotism on the part of those who have already attained the status of breeders is rare. The human life course, however, is very different from that of birds, with plenty of opportunity for former reproductives to act as helpers later, and this eventual nepotistic payback probably played a significant role in the evolution of the matrilateral bias (Perry and Daly, 2017), a possibility reinforced by recent evidence that misattributed paternity is much rarer than previously supposed (Anderson, 2006;Larmuseau et al, 2016;Sear, 2016).…”

Support for new mothers and fertility in the United Kingdom: Not all support is equal in the decision to have a second child

“…We used logistic and poisson regressions (depending on the outcome variable) to test whether the absence of partner support predicts receiving other forms of support: childcare from parents, amount of financial support from parents, weekly contact with parents (excluding co-resident women), co-residence with parents, paid childcare support, amount of formal support, frequent contact with friends (more than 3 times a week), and agreement with Schaffnit & Sear 10 the statement "There are other parents I can talk to about my experiences". We focused particularly on whether the absence of a partner affects the receipt of other support because partners are an important source of support in high-income populations where the nuclear family is idealised (Sear, 2016); we expect women without such support to seek support elsewhere. For each outcome, a first model included partner status and wealth and a second model included an interaction between the two predictors.…”

Marital Status and Sleeping Arrangements Predict Salivary Testosterone Levels in Rural Gambian Men

“…If time spent with children is a proximate mechanism which reduces testosterone, then this could also even out differences in testosterone between unmarried, non-fathers and married fathers. Further, differences in patterns of social interactions during childhood and adolescence may also influence the development of these hormonal mechanisms and paternal behavior itself (Sear 2016;Sheppard, Garcia & Sear 2015).…”