Multiple Caretaking of Efe (Pygmy) Infants

Tronick, Edward Z.; Morelli, Gilda A.; Winn, Steve

doi:10.1525/aa.1987.89.1.02a00050

Cited by 108 publications

(78 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Microanalyses of caretaker-infant interactions and perturbations of social contingency experiments for 8-week-old infants exist only for North American and Western European pairs. However, studies of infancy in contemporary hunter-gatherer societies such as the !Kung (Konner 1977), Arnhemland Aborigines (Hamilton 1981), Efe pygmies (Tronick et al 1987), and Aka pygmies (Hewlett 1991) unanimously report that caretaker-infant association is vocally, visually, and physically stimulating, giving plausibility to an assumption that the predisposition for interactions such as we describe may be ancestral.…”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 62%

The poetics of babytalk

Miall

Dissanayake

2003

Hum Nat

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Caretaker-infant attachment is a complex but well-recognized adaptation in humans. An early instance of (or precursor to) attachment behavior is the dyadic interaction between adults and infants of 6 to 24 weeks, commonly called "babytalk." Detailed analysis of 1 minute of spontaneous babytalk with an 8-week infant shows that the poetic texture of the mother's speech-specifically its use of metrics, phonetics, and foregrounding-helps to shape and direct the baby's attention, as it also coordinates the partners' emotional communication. We hypothesize that the ability to respond to poetic features of language is present as early as the first few weeks of life and that this ability attunes cognitive and affective capacities in ways that provide a foundation for the skills at work in later aesthetic production and response. By linking developmental social processes with formal cognitive aspects of art, we challenge predominant views in evolutionary psychology that literary art is a superfluous byproduct of adaptive evolutionary mechanisms or primarily an ornament created by sexual selection.

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Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 62%

The poetics of babytalk

Miall

Dissanayake

2003

Hum Nat

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“…Despite these difficulties, it is essential to investigate the role of these additional allomothers. Children are immersed in dense social and caregiving networks from birth and develop lasting and cooperative social relationships with individuals beyond their immediate family members (Tronick et al, 1987;Gottlieb, 2004;Meehan and Hawks, 2013). These relationships may be particularly essential when faced with the loss of a primary allomother.…”

Section: Human Cooperative Breedingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cooperative breeding and Aka children's nutritional status: Is flexibility key?

Meehan

Helfrecht

Quinlan

2014

American J Phys Anthropol

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Research suggests that nonmaternal caregivers (allomothers) offer essential assistance through caregiving and provisioning, helping to support lengthy child development. Here, we examine the role of allomothers and the broader social and sharing network on Aka forager children's anthropometrics. We hypothesize that nonmaternal investors strategically target their assistance when it is most needed and when it will have the greatest effect. We evaluate children's nutritional status using WHO standards [weight-for-age (WAZ), height-for-age (HAZ), and weight-for-height (WHZ)] during four periods of child development [early infancy (birth to <9 months), mobility to weaning (9 to <36 months), early childhood (36 to <72 months), and middle childhood (72 to <120 months); N = 127]. We explore the effects of allomothers and the social network across these different risk periods and examine whether the broader social network buffers the loss of a primary allomother. ANOVA results suggest that girls may be experiencing some growth faltering, while boys start smaller and remain small across these stages. We used OLS multiple regression models to evaluate the effects of sex, camp composition, risk periods, and allomothers' presence on WAZ, HAZ, and WHZ. Grandmothers are the most influential allomother, with their effect most evident during the 9 to <36 month period. Camp size was also associated with greater WAZ, suggesting that children residing in small camps may be disadvantaged. Our findings also indicate that, under specific residence patterns, cooperative child rearing networks buffer the loss of a grandmother. Overall, our results suggest the importance of social networks to children's nutritional status and that individuals target investment to critical phases.

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“…Ngandu infancy is characterized by frequent holding and multiple caregiving, but at levels significantly lower than what is observed among foragers in general (Hewlett et al 2000;Meehan 2005a;Tronick et al 1987). Infants are carried in a sling on the mother's back, enabling the infant to have contact with the mother but not allowing face-to-face visual orientation or breastfeeding while the mother is walking or working.…”

Section: Participantsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Allomaternal Investment and Relational Uncertainty among Ngandu Farmers of the Central African Republic

Meehan

2008

Hum Nat

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Several studies have suggested a matrilateral bias in allomaternal (non-maternal) infant and child caregiving. The bias has been associated with the allomother's certainty of genetic relatedness, where allomothers with high certainty of genetic relatedness will invest more in children because of potential fitness benefits. Using quantitative behavioral observations collected on Ngandu 8- to 12-month-old infants from the Central African Republic, I examine who is caring for infants and test whether certainty of genetic relatedness may influence investment by allomothers. Results indicate a matrilateral bias in caregiving by extended kin members, but this does not affect the total level of care infants receive when fathers and siblings are included in the analysis. These results replicate a previous study done among an adjacent foraging population and emphasize the importance of examining children's complete social environments when addressing caregiving and child development.

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Multiple Caretaking of Efe (Pygmy) Infants

Cited by 108 publications

References 17 publications

The poetics of babytalk

The poetics of babytalk

Cooperative breeding and Aka children's nutritional status: Is flexibility key?

Allomaternal Investment and Relational Uncertainty among Ngandu Farmers of the Central African Republic

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