Substitute parents : biological and social perspective on alloparenting across human societies

Bibliographic Information

Substitute parents : biological and social perspective on alloparenting across human societies

edited by Gillian Bentley & Ruth Mace

(The biosocial society series, v. 3)

Berghahn Books, 2009

  • : hbk
  • : pbk

Other Title

Substitute parents : biological and social perspectives on alloparenting in human societies

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Note

Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

From a comparative perspective, human life histories are unique and raising offspring is unusually costly: humans have relatively short birth intervals compared to other apes, childhood is long, mothers care simultaneously for many dependent children (other apes raise one offspring at a time), infant mortality is high in natural fertility/mortality populations, and human females have a long post-reproductive lifespan. These features conspire to make child raising very burdensome. Mothers frequently defray these costs with paternal help (not usual in other ape species), although this contribution is not always enough. Grandmothers, elder siblings, paid allocarers, or society as a whole, help to defray the costs of childcare, both in our evolutionary past and now. Studying offspring care in a various human societies, and other mammalian species, a wide range of specialists such as anthropologists, psychologists, animal behaviorists, evolutionary ecologists, economists and sociologists, have contributed to this volume, offering new insights into and a better understanding of one of the key areas of human society.

Table of Contents

Preface Prologue Sarah Hardy Introduction Gillian R. Bentley and Ruth Mace PART I: ALLOPARENTAL STRATEGIES Chapter 1. Biological basis of alloparental behaviour in animals Nancy G. Solomon and Loren D. Hayes Chapter 2. Family matters: kin, demography and child health in a rural Gambian population Rebecca Sear and Ruth Mace Chapter 3. Does it take a family to raise a child? Cooperative breeding in humans using the example of Maya subsistence agriculturalists Karen L. Kramer Chapter 4. Changing times for the Argentine Toba: Who cares for the baby now? Claudia Valeggia Chapter 5. Who minds the baby? Beng perspectives on mothers, neighbours, and strangers as caretakers Alma Gottlieb Chapter 6. Economic perspectives on alloparenting Gillian Paull Chapter 7. The school as parent Berry Mayall Chapter 8. The parenting and substitute parenting of young children Helen Penn Chapter 9. Adoption, adopters and adopted children David Howe Chapter 10. Surrogacy: The experiences of commissioning couples and surrogate mothers Emma Lycett PART II: THE EFFECT OF ALLOPARENTING ON CHILDREN Chapter 11. Alloparenting in the context of HIV/AIDS in southern Africa: Complex strategies for Care Lorraine van Blerk and Nicola Ansell Chapter 12. Alloparenting and the ontogeny of HPA stress response among stepchildren Mark V. Flinn Chapter 13. Separation stress in early childhood: Harmless side effect of modern caregiving practices or risk factor for development? Joachim Bensel Chapter 14. Quality, quantity and type Of child care: Effects on child development in the USA Jay Belsky Chapter 15. 'It feels normal that other people are split up but not YOUR Mum and Dad': Divorce through the Eyes of Children Margaret Robinson Bibliography Index

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Details
  • NCID
    BB03563598
  • ISBN
    • 9781845451066
    • 9780857456410
  • LCCN
    2009015808
  • Country Code
    us
  • Title Language Code
    eng
  • Text Language Code
    eng
  • Place of Publication
    New York
  • Pages/Volumes
    xviii, 354 p.
  • Size
    24 cm
  • Classification
  • Subject Headings
  • Parent Bibliography ID
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