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Kin Relationships and the Caregiving Biases of Grandparents, Aunts, and Uncles

A Two-Generational Questionnaire Study

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Abstract

Paternity certainty and matrilineal family ties have been used to explain the asymmetric caregiving of grandparents and aunts and uncles. The proximate mechanisms underlying biased kin investment, however, remain unclear. A central question of the study presented here was whether the parent-kin relationship is an important link in the caregiving. In a two-generational questionnaire study, we asked subjects to estimate the intensity of their relationships to parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles (emotional closeness, investment received in childhood). In addition, the subjects’ parents rated their emotional closeness to their parents and siblings. We found that the parent-kin relationship was closely linked to the relatives’ child care and could partly explain asymmetric caregiving. Maternal aunts played a special role as caregivers. Especially the mother’s younger or last-born sister cared intensively for nieces and nephews, regardless of her closeness to the subjects’ mother.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a fellowship within the postdoc program of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). We thank Steve Gaulin for helpful contributions to the planning of this study, Carsten Niemitz for his support, Elena Baily for her help in data collection, Michael Eid for statistical advice, and three anonymous reviewers and Marina Butovskaya for their helpful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Humanbiologie und Anthropologie, Freie Universität Berlin, Albrecht-Thaer-Weg 6, 14195, Berlin, Germany

    Alexander Pashos

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Donald H. McBurney

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  1. Alexander Pashos
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  2. Donald H. McBurney
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Correspondence to Alexander Pashos.

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Pashos, A., McBurney, D.H. Kin Relationships and the Caregiving Biases of Grandparents, Aunts, and Uncles. Hum Nat 19, 311–330 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-008-9046-0

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