How Much Does Family Matter? Cooperative Breeding and the Demographic Transition

Sear, Rebecca; Coall, David A.

doi:10.1111/j.1728-4457.2011.00379.x

Cited by 267 publications

(337 citation statements)

References 115 publications

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“…Indeed, we found tentative evidence in the Kaplan Meier plots that by their 30s father absent women may be less likely to have reproduced at all, despite doing so earlier when they do reproduce. This latter finding does not straightforwardly fit the adaptationist approaches above (although we did not measure overall reproductive success of the groups, so neither are our data directly inconsistent with such approaches), but would perhaps be more consistent with evidence from non-Western cultures in which (grand)parental support seems to be an important contributory factor to reproduction (Sear & Coall, 2011).…”

Section: Parental Absence As a Predictor Of Age At First Birthcontrasting

confidence: 57%

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Father absence and age at first birth in a western sample

Boothroyd

Craig

Crossman

et al. 2013

American J Hum Biol

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Objectives Although a large literature has shown links between “father absence” during early childhood, and earlier puberty and sexual behavior in girls in Western populations, there are only a few studies which have looked at timing of reproduction, and only one of these fully incorporated childless respondents to investigate whether father absence is associated with increased hazard of becoming a parent at one time point (early) more than another. Here we sought to clarify exactly when, if at all, father absence increased the likelihood of first birth in a Western sample. Methods An online sample of 954 women reported on their childhood living circumstances, their age of menarche, first coitus, first pregnancy, and first birth. Results Cox regression and Kaplan–Meier plots showed an increased risk of becoming a parent for father absent women in their 20s, but no overall greater likelihood of parenthood. Conclusion These data support the suggestion that father absence is associated with an acceleration of reproductive behavior in Western samples, rather than a simple increase in likelihood of reproduction. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 25:366–369, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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Section: Parental Absence As a Predictor Of Age At First Birthcontrasting

confidence: 57%

“…Ellis et al, 2003Ellis et al, , 2009; see also Sear & Coall, 2011, for a review). However, given that teen mothers may represent a very particular and small set of individuals (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Father absence and age at first birth in a western sample

Boothroyd

Craig

Crossman

et al. 2013

American J Hum Biol

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“…The idea that there is some basic core in grandparenting gains strong support from the analyses and reviews concerning pre-modern, traditional and contemporary human societies (Sear and Mace 2008;Coall and Hertwig 2010;Sear and Coall 2011) and the fact that the researchers have found occurrence of caring grandmothering for example in many primates furthermore highlights the possibility of the evolutionary value of caring grandparenting (Euler 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adolescent grandchildren’s perceptions of grandparents’ involvement in UK: an interpretation from life course and evolutionary theory perspective

Danielsbacka

Tanskanen

2012

Eur J Ageing

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In this article, we study grandparental involvement from the viewpoint of evolutionary theory and sociological life course perception. We have used 'the Involved Grandparenting and Child Well-Being 2007' survey, which is the first nationally representative sample of British and Welsh adolescents aged 11-16 (n = 1,488). First, we explore with the descriptive statistics the amount of grandparental involvement reported by adolescents. The result follows the predicted pattern: maternal grandparent is reported to involve in a grandchild's life the most, second maternal grandfather, third paternal grandmother and the last paternal grandfather. Second, we focus more closely on separate grandparents and show with four linear regression models which factors are connected to each grandparent's involvement. Grandchild's age, grandparent's health, grandparent's labour force participation and distance between a grandparent and a grandchild were factors that have similar effects in relation to all grandparents. Marital status mattered only for grandfathers, whereas family structure of a grandchild has opposite effects in relation to maternal and paternal grandparents. Grandchild's sex, grandparent's age, the number of grandchildren and the number of living grandparents all mattered, but only with respect to some grandparents. The study shows that it is advantageous to merge sociological and evolutionary viewpoints when studying a grandparental involvement in a modern society.

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“…Only a few studies on this is-sue have been conducted in less developed countries and in non-western societies (e.g., Sheppard, Snopkowski & Sear, 2014). Many studies in Western societies have demonstrated the effects of father absence not only on the mortality and health (e.g., Sear & Coall, 2011;Sear & Mace, 2008;Winking, et al, 2009), but also on the reproductive behavior of children (e.g., Alvergne, Faurie & Raymond, 2008;Bogaert, 2008;Mendle et al, 2009;Nettle, Coal & Dickens, 2010). According to life history theory, because of limited resources, individuals have in general to make trade-offs between mating efforts and parenting efforts in order to reproduce (e.g., Chisholm, 1993;Figueredo et al, 2006).…”

Section: The Effects Of Father Absence On Reproductive Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does father abandonment have consequences for the reproductive strategies of girls? A study in Curaçao

Brummen-Girigori

Buunk

2015

Evolution, Mind and Behaviour

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Abstract. The present research examined the consequences of father abandonment for the reproductive strategies of girls from the Caribbean island of Curaçao. The sample consisted of 189 girls with an average age of 19.11 (SD = 2.97). Respondents were categorized in three groups, namely: 'early father absence' (abandoned between 0-5 years of age), 'late father absence' (abandoned between 6-13 years of age) and 'father presence' (father present during childhood). The results showed that compared to 'late father absence' girls and 'father presence' girls, 'early father absence' girls initiated sexual intercourse at a significant younger age. Moreover, they were less interested in getting married and in having grandchildren. These differences could not be explained by differences in educational level of the participants or occupational level of the father and the mother. There were no significant differences between the three groups in the age of menarche, the total number of sexual partners and the desire to have children. From an evolutionary life history perspective, we discuss possible explanations for, and implications of, these findings.

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How Much Does Family Matter? Cooperative Breeding and the Demographic Transition

Abstract: P o P u l at i o n a n d d e v e l o P m e n t r e v i e w 3 7 ( S u P P l e m e n t ) : 8 1 -1 1 2 ( 2 0 1 1 ) 8 1

Cited by 267 publications

References 115 publications

Father absence and age at first birth in a western sample

Father absence and age at first birth in a western sample

Adolescent grandchildren’s perceptions of grandparents’ involvement in UK: an interpretation from life course and evolutionary theory perspective

Does father abandonment have consequences for the reproductive strategies of girls? A study in Curaçao

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