Can an evolutionary perspective shed light on maternal abuse of children?

Abstract

Although the theory of evolution lies at the heart of contemporary biology, its influence on the study of child psychology and psychiatry has been limited. In earlier work we have argued that evolutionary thinking has much of value for clinicians. Here, we explore the possible significance of evolutionary theory for understanding child abuse by mothers, particularly neglect, emotional abuse and physical abuse. We draw on the research of anthropologists, primatologists and evolutionary theorists to make predictions about the environmental circumstances under which one would expect such abuse to be more prevalent. We discuss how in modern, Western cultures there is less understanding of the circumstances that may influence, even predispose, a mother to limit her emotional and material commitment to an infant or child. We use four short vignettes of clinical cases and one longer case description to illustrate the insights offered to clinicians by an evolutionary approach. We see our work both as contributing to greater understanding of these matters and as facilitating more compassionate models of care and intervention for women in such circumstances.

Sensitive responsiveness and multiple caregiving networks among Mbendjele BaYaka hunter-gatherers: Potential implications for psychological development and well-being.

“…As discussed above, crying can hold survival value; however, the relationship between crying and caregiver response is not fixed, and under certain circumstances crying has the opposite effect, eliciting harmful rather than caring behaviors. Excessive crying can be particularly stressful for mothers and increases the risk of child maltreatment and neglect (Esposito et al, 2017;Hiraoka & Nomura, 2017;Wren et al, 2021;Zeifman & St James-Roberts, 2017). Firk et al (2018) note that maternal emotion regulation in response to infant distress is crucial and some mothers can become SENSITIVE RESPONSIVENESS AND CAREGIVING NETWORKS overwhelmed resulting in intense negative emotions that increase the risk of child abuse.…”

“…Finally, we examine the combined contribution of allomothers across each caregiving domain. Support for mothers has numerous benefits for children such as reducing the risk of neglect and abuse, buffering against family adversity, and improving maternal well-being which in turn enhances maternal care (Larose et al, 2021; Morita et al, 2021; Wren et al, 2021). Identifying the relative involvement of allomothers can improve our understanding of the level of support mothers have typically had access to over human evolutionary history; and in turn how much support may be required to safeguard mothers, and their offspring, well-being.…”

Public health for paediatricians: how an evolutionary perspective can help us improve children’s well-being

“…Parent–offspring conflict 3: maternal care evolved to be context dependent. For example, if a mother had a baby while still breastfeeding an older child, she may have left the baby to die so that the older child could survive.…”

“…For example, we know that parent–offspring conflict 3 is an evolutionary adaptation to allow mothers in difficult situations to at least leave some surviving children, even if it is detrimental to a particular child (see Box 1). We can then recognise that mothers who struggle to bond with their child, or who struggle to accept a child with a disability, are not deficient in their ‘mother instinct’, but rather in social support.…”