Neither environmental unpredictability nor harshness predict reliance on alloparental care among families in Cebu, Philippines

Abstract

Alloparental caregiving is key to humans’ highly flexible reproductive strategies. Across species and across societies, alloparental care is more common in harsh and/or unpredictable environments (HUEs). Currently, however, it is unclear whether HUEs predict intra-population variation in alloparental care, or whether early life HUEs might predict later alloparental care use in adulthood, consistent with adaptive developmental plasticity. We test whether harshness measures (socioeconomic status (SES), environmental hygiene, crowding) and unpredictability measures (parental unemployment, paternal absence, household moves) predicted how much alloparental assistance families in Cebu, Philippines received, in a multigenerational study with data collected across four decades. Though worse environmental hygiene predicted more concurrent alloparental care in 1994, we found little evidence that HUEs predict within-population variation in alloparental care in this large-scale, industrialized society. Indeed, less-crowded conditions and higher SES predicted more alloparental care, not less, in the 1980s and in 2014 respectively, while paternal absence in middle childhood predicted less reliance on alloparental care in adulthood. In this cultural context, our results generally do not provide support for the translation of interspecific or intersocietal patterns linking HUEs and alloparental care to intra-population variation in alloparental care, nor for the idea that a reproductive strategy emphasizing alloparental care use may be preceded by early life HUEs.

Evidence for an adolescent sensitive period to family experiences influencing adult male testosterone production

“…Finally, father coresidence was also a key measure in these analyses. The child development and health effects of fathers residing elsewhere and separate from their children varies across populations and societies, based on cultural systems and other socioecological dynamics ( 22 , 79 , 82 , 83 ). Moreover, the occurrence of fathers residing elsewhere has been used to pathologize family forms in some populations ( 79 ), so it is important to clarify the local relevance of father coresidence in our study context.…”

“…Moreover, the occurrence of fathers residing elsewhere has been used to pathologize family forms in some populations ( 79 ), so it is important to clarify the local relevance of father coresidence in our study context. In Cebu, fathers residing separate from their children was relatively uncommon during the study time frame, and likely stemmed from multiple sources, such as employment abroad and marital separations ( 19 , 32 , 83 ). Given valued local roles for fathers and Filipino cultural emphases on two-parent households, informed in part by Catholic norms ( 19 , 26 , 56 , 57 , 80 ), father coresidence was likely meaningful for sons during development.…”

“…In 1994 and 1998, fathers were most frequently characterized as coresident but not involved in childcare (62 to 76%) ( Table 1 ). It was also common in the 1980s and 1990s for families to receive at least some routine alloparental care in the household ( 83 ). G1 caregiving data were not reported for nonresident fathers ( 26 , 83 ).…”

“…It was also common in the 1980s and 1990s for families to receive at least some routine alloparental care in the household ( 83 ). G1 caregiving data were not reported for nonresident fathers ( 26 , 83 ).…”

Shodagor women cooperate across domains of work and childcare to solve an adaptive problem

“…are approached from the perspective of the alloparent (e.g. [20][21][22][23]). However, entrusting dependent children to the care of an alloparent is not without risk.…”