Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The Fitness Effects of Men’s Family Investments

A Test of Three Pathways in a Single Population

  • Published:
Human Nature Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Men’s investments in parenting and long-term reproductive relationships are a hallmark feature of human reproduction and life history. The uniqueness of such male involvement among catarrhines has driven an extensive debate surrounding the selective pressures that led to and maintain such capacities in men. Three major pathways have been proposed through which men’s involvement might confer fitness benefits: enhancing child well-being, increasing couple fertility, and decreasing likelihood of partner desertion. Previous research has explored the impact of father involvement on these factors individually, but here we present novel research that explores all three pathways within the same population, the Mayangna/Miskito horticulturalists of Nicaragua. Furthermore, we expand the traditional dichotomous measure of father presence/absence by using a continuous measure of overall male investment, as well as two continuous measures of its subcomponents: direct care and wealth. We find that men’s investments are associated with children’s growth and possibly with wife’s marital satisfaction; however, they are not associated with couple fertility.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Amato, P. R., & Previti, D. (2003). People’s reasons for divorcing: gender, social class, the life course, and adjustment. Journal of Family Issues, 24(5), 602–626.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Amato, P. R., & Rogers, S. J. (1997). A longitudinal study of marital problems and subsequent divorce. [Article]. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 59(3), 612–624.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, K. G., Kaplan, H., & Lancaster, J. (1999). Paternal care by genetic fathers and stepfathers I: reports from Albuquerque men. Evolution and Human Behavior, 20, 405–431.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bart, J., & Tornes, A. (1989). Importance of monogamous male birds in determining reproductive success: evidence for house wrens and review of male-removal studies. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 24(2), 109–116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Belsky, J., Steinberg, L., & Draper, P. (1991). Childhood experience, interpersonal development, and reproductive strategy: an evolutionary-theory of socialization. Child Development, 62(4), 647–670.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Betzig, L. (1989). Causes of conjugal dissolution: a cross-cultural study. Current Anthropology, 30(5), 654–675.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bleige Bird, R., Smith, E. A., & Bird, D. W. (2001). The hunting handicap: costly signaling in human foraging strategies. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 50, 9–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blurton Jones, N. G., Hawkes, K., & O’Connell, J. F. (1997). Why do Hadza children forage? In N. L. Segal, G. E. Weisfeld, & C. C. Weisfeld (Eds.), Uniting psychology and biology: Integrative perspectives on human development (pp. 297–331). New York: American Psychological Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bogin, B. (1997). Evolutionary hypotheses for human childhood. Yearbook of Physical Anthropology, 40, 63–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Borgatti, S. P., Everett, M. G., & Freeman, L. C. (2002). Ucinet for windows: Software for social network analysis. Harvard: Analytic Technologies.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brotherton, P. N., & Komers, P. E. (2003). Mate guarding and the evolution of social monogamy in mammals. Monogamy: Mating strategies and partnerships in birds, humans and other mammals (pp. 42–58). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  • Buchan, J. C., Alberts, S. C., Silk, J. B., & Altmann, J. (2003). True paternal care in a multi-male primate society. Nature, 425, 179–181.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bumpass, L. L., Martin, T. C., & Sweet, J. A. (1991). The impact of family background and early marital factors on marital disruption. Journal of Family Issues, 12(1), 22–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chapais, B. (2008). Primeval kinship: How pair-bonding gave boirth to human society. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chapais, B. (2013). Monogamy, strongly bonded groups, and the evolution of human social structure. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews, 22(2), 52–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, O., & Savaya, R. (2003). Reasons for divorce among Muslim Arabs in Israel—an exploratory study. European Societies, 5(3), 303–325.

  • Cornwallis, C. K., West, S. A., Davis, K. E., & Griffin, A. S. (2010). Promiscuity and the evolutionary transition to complex societies. Nature, 466(7309), 969–972.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drigotas, S. M., Safstrom, C. A., & Gentilia, T. (1999). An investment model prediction of dating infidelity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77(3), 509–524.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ellis, B. J. (2004). Timing of pubertal maturation in girls: an integrated life history approach. Psychological Bulletin, 130(6), 920–958.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Escasa, M., Gray, P. B., & Patton, J. Q. (2010). Male traits associated with attractiveness in Conambo, Ecuador. Evolution and Human Behavior, 31(3), 193–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Flinn, M. V. (1988). Step- and genetic parent/offspring relationships in a Caribbean village. Ethology and Sociobiology, 9, 335–369.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gavrilets, S. (2012). Human origins and the transition from promiscuity to pair-bonding. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(25), 9923–9928.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gray, P. B., & Anderson, K. G. (2010). Fatherhood: Evolution and human paternal behavior. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gurven, M., & Hill, K. (2009). Why do men hunt? Current Anthropology, 50(1), 51–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gurven, M., & von Rueden, C. (2006). Hunting, social status and biological fitness. Social Biology, 53, 81–99.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gurven, M., Kaplan, H., & Zelada Supa, A. (2007). Mortality experience of Tsimane Amerindians: regional variation and temporal trends. American Journal of Human Biology, 19, 376–398.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hames, R., Oliver, W. J., & Chagnon, N. A. (2005). Growth, development, and health of Yanomamö orphans in relation to parental loss and kinship. Paper presented at the 17th Annual Meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Austin, TX.

  • Hawkes, K. (1991). Showing off: tests of an hypothesis about men’s foraging goals. Ethology and Sociobiology, 12(1), 29–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hawkes, K. (1993a). On why male foragers hunt and share food: reply to hill and Kaplan. Current Anthropology, 34(4), 706–710.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hawkes, K. (1993b). Why hunter-gatherers work. Current Anthropology, 34(4), 341–361.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hawkes, K., O’Connell, J. F., Blurton Jones, N. G., Alvarez, H., & Charnov, E. L. (1998). Grandmothering, menopoause, and the evolution of human life histories. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 95, 1336–1339.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hawkes, K., O’Connell, J. F., & Coxworth, J. E. (2010). Family provisioning is not the only reason men hunt: a comment on gurven and hill. Current Anthropology, 51(2), 259–264.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Helms, M. W. (1971). Asang: Adaptations to culture contact in a Miskito community. Gainesville: University of Florida Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hill, K., & Hurtado, A. M. (1996). Ache life history: The ecology and demography of a foraging people. New York: Aldine.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hill, K., & Kintigh, K. (2009). Can anthropologists distinguish good and poor hunters? Implications for hunting hypotheses, sharing conventions, and cultural transmission. Current Anthropology, 50(3), 369–377.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoelzer, G. A. (1989). The good parent process of sexual selection. Animal Behaviour, 38(6), 1067–1078.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hrdy, S. B. (2005). Humans as cooperative breeders: An evolutionary and comparative perspective. In B. S. Hewlet & M. E. Lamb (Eds.), Hunter-gatherer childhoods: Evolutionary, developmental, and cultural perspectives. New Brunswick: Aldine Transaction.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hughes, W. O., Oldroyd, B. P., Beekman, M., & Ratnieks, F. L. (2008). Ancestral monogamy shows kin selection is key to the evolution of eusociality. Science, 320(5880), 1213–1216.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hurtado, A. M., Hill, K., Kaplan, H., & Hurtado, I. (1992). Trade-offs between female food acquisition and child care among Hiwi and Ache foragers. Human Nature, 3(3), 185–216.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaplan, H. S., & Lancaster, J. B. (2003). An evolutionary and ecological analysis of human fertility, mating patterns, and parental investment. In K. W. Wachter & R. A. Bulatao (Eds.), Offspring: Human fertility behavior in biodemographic perspective (pp. 170–223). Washington: National Academies Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kokko, H., & Jennions, M. D. (2008). Parental investment, sexual selection and sex ratios. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 21(4), 919–948.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Komers, P. E., & Brotherton, P. N. (1997). Female space use is the best predictor of monogamy in mammals. Proc Royal Soc B: Biological Sciences, 264(1386), 1261–1270.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koster, J. (2007). Hunting and subsistence among the Mayangna and Miskito of Nicaragua’s Bosawas biosphere reserve. University Park: Pennsylvania State University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koster, J. (2010). Informant rankings via consensus analysis: a reply to Hill and Kintigh. Current Anthropology, 51(2), 257–258.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koster, J. (2011). Hypothetical rankings of prospective husbands for female kin in lowland Nicaragua: consensus analysis indicates high agreement and associations with wealth and hunting skill. Evolution and Human Behavior, 32(5), 356–363.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koster, J. M., & Leckie, G. (2014). Food sharing networks in lowland Nicaragua: an application of the social relations model to count data. Social Networks, 38(1), 100–110.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koster, J. M., Grote, M. N., & Winterhalder, B. (2013). Effects on household labor of temporary out-migration by male household heads in Nicaragua and Peru: an analysis of spot-check time allocation data using mixed-effects models. Human Ecology, 41(2), 221–237.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kramer, K. L., & Russell, A. F. (2015). Was monogamy a key step on the Hominin road? Reevaluating the monogamy hypothesis in the evolution of cooperative breeding. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews, 24(2), 73–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lamb, M. E. (1997). Fathers and child development: An introductory overview and guide. In M. E. Lamb (Ed.), The role of the father in child development (3rd ed.). New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lancaster, J. B., & Lancaster, C. S. (1987). The watershed: change in parental-investment and family-formation strategies in the course of human evolution. In J. B. Lancaster, J. LAltmann, A. S. Rossi, & L. R. Sherrod (Eds.), Parenting across the life span: Biosocial dimensions (pp. 187–205). New York: Aldine de Gruyter.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lang, K., & Zagorsky, J. L. (2001). Does growing up with a parent absent really hurt? Journal of Human Resources, 36(2), 253–273.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Le, B., & Agnew, C. R. (2003). Commitment and its theorized determinants: a meta-analysis of the investment model. Personal Relationships, 10, 37–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lehmann, J., Fickenscher, G., & Boesch, C. (2006). Kin biased investment in wild chimpanzees. Behaviour, 143(8), 931–955.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lovejoy, O. (1981). The origin of man. Science, 211, 341–350.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lukas, D., & Clutton-Brock, T. (2012). Cooperative breeding and monogamy in mammalian societies. Proc Royal Soc B: Biological Sciences, 279(1736), 2151–2156.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lukas, D., & Clutton-Brock, T. H. (2013). The evolution of social monogamy in mammals. Science, 341(6145), 526–530.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marlowe, F. (1999). Showoffs or providers? The parenting effort of Hadza men. Evolution and Human Behavior, 20, 391–404.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marlowe, F. (2001). Male contribution to diet and female reproductive success among foragers. Current Anthropology, 42(5), 755–760.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marlowe, F. (2003). A critical period for provisioning by Hadza men: implications for pair bonding. Evolution and Human Behavior, 24, 217–229.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Martin, R. D. (1983). Human brain evolution in an ecological context. Fifty-second James Arthur lecture on evolution and the human brain. New York: American Museum of Natural History. Available online at http://kiatipis.org/Writers/R/Robert.Martin/1982_Human.Brain.Evolution.in.an.Ecological.Context.pdf.

  • Mattison, S. M., Scelza, B., & Blumenfield, T. (2014). Paternal investment and the positive effects of fathers among the Matrilineal Mosuo of Southwest China. American Anthropologist, 116(3), 591–610.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mbosowo, D. (1994). The extent and rate of divorce in Plateau State, Nigeria, 1980 to 1988. Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, 21, 147–170.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McLanahan, S. S., & Sandefur, B. (1994). Growing up with a single parent: What hurts, what helps? Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • McSweeney, K. (2002). A demographic profile of the Tawahka Amerindians of Honduras. Geographical Review, 92(3), 398–414.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mesnick, S. L. (1997). Sexual alliances: Evidence and evolutionary implications. In P. A. Gowaty (Ed.), Feminism and evolutionary biology (pp. 207–260). New York: Chapman and Hall.

  • Parker, S., & Skoufias, E. (n.d.). Job loss, change in marital status and the allocation of time within families: evidence from urban Mexico. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.373.1290&rep=rep1&type=pdf.

  • Peterson, R. R. (1989). Women, work and divorce. Albany: SUNY Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petrie, M., & Williams, A. (1993). Peahens lay more eggs for peacocks with larger trains. Proc Royal Soc B: Biological Sciences, 251(1331), 127–131.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Powell, M. A., & Parcel, T. L. (1997). Effects of family structure on the earnings attainment process: differences by gender. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 59(2), 419–433.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Romney, A. K., Batchelder, W. H., & Weller, S. C. (1987). Recent applications of cultural consensus theory. American Behavioral Scientist, 31(2), 163–177.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rusbult, C. E., Martz, J. M., & Agnew, C. R. (1998). The investment model scale: measuring commitment level, satisfaction level, quality of alternatives, and investment size. Personal Relationships, 5, 357–391.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scelza, B. A. (2010). Fathers’ presence speeds the social and reproductive careers of sons. Current Anthropology, 51(2), 295–303.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sear, R., & Mace, R. (2008). Who keeps children alive? A review of the effects of kin on child survival. Evolution and Human Behavior, 29(1), 1–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sear, R., Mace, R., & McGregor, I. A. (2000). Maternal grandmothers improve the nutritional status and survival of children in rural Gambia. Proc Royal Soc B: Biological Sciences, 267, 1641–1647.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Silventoinen, K., Kaprio, J., Lahelma, E., & Koskenvuo, M. (2000). Relative effect of genetic and environmental factors on body height: differences across birth cohorts among Finnish men and women. American Journal of Public Health, 90(4), 627–630.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skirbekk, V. (2008). Fertility trends by social status. Demographic Research, 18, 145–180.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, E. A. (2004). Why do good hunters have higher reproductive success? Human Nature, 15(4), 343–364.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smuts, B. B., & Gubernick, D. J. (1992). Male-infant relationships in nonhuman primates: Paternal investment or mating effort? In B. S. Hewlett (Ed.), Father-child relations: Cultural and biosocial contexts (pp. 1–30). New York: Aldine.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Schaik, C. P., & Paul, A. (1996). Male care in primates: does it ever reflect paternity? Evolutionary Anthropology, 5, 152–156.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • VanderDrift, L. E., Agnew, C. R., & Wilson, J. E. (2014). Spanish version of the Investment Model Scale. Personal Relationships, 21(1), 110–124.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • von Rueden, C., Gurven, M., & Kaplan, H. (2008). The multiple dimensions of male social status in an Amazonian society. Evolution and Human Behavior, 29(6), 402–415.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waynforth, D. (1999). Differences in time use for mating and nepotistic effort as a function of male attractiveness in rural Belize. Evolution and Human Behavior, 20, 19–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weller, S. C. (2007). Cultural consensus theory: applications and frequently asked questions. Field Methods, 19(4), 339–368.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • White, L., & Rogers, S. J. (2000). Economic circumstances and family outcomes: a review of the 1990s. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 62(4), 1035–1051.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Winking, J. (2006). Are men that bad as fathers? The role of men’s investments. Social Biology, 53(1–2), 100–115.

    Google Scholar 

  • Winking, J., Kaplan, H., Gurven, M., & Rucas, S. (2007). Why do men marry and why do they stray? Proc Royal Soc B: Biological Sciences, 274(1618), 1643–1649.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Winking, J., Gurven, M., Kaplan, H., & Stieglitz, J. (2009). The goals of direct paternal care among a South Amerindian population. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 139(3), 295–304.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Winking, J., Gurven, M., & Kaplan, H. (2011). Father death and adult success among the Tsimane: implications for marriage and divorce. Evolution and Human Behavior, 32, 79–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wood, B. M., & Marlowe, F. W. (2013). Household and Kin Provisioning by Hadza Men. Human Nature, 24(3), 280–317.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Jessica Burns for her tireless work in collecting some of the data used here. We also thank Paul Eastwick for providing guidance concerning the use of the Investment Score Model. Finally, we would like to thank the members of these communities for hosting us and for their endless cooperative spirit. This research was supported by the Leakey Foundation, the Charles P. Taft Research Center, and the Texas A&M Division of Research PESCA Program. It was carried out under TAMU IRB Protocol 2014-0249 and UC IRB Protocol 12-09-28-03. All participants provided their informed consent prior to inclusion in the study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA

    Jeffrey Winking

  2. Department of Anthropology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, 45221, USA

    Jeremy Koster

Authors
  1. Jeffrey Winking
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jeremy Koster
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jeffrey Winking.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Winking, J., Koster, J. The Fitness Effects of Men’s Family Investments. Hum Nat 26, 292–312 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-015-9237-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-015-9237-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation