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Encyclopedia of Sexual Psychology and Behavior pp 1–2Cite as

Child-Rearing: Gender Roles

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Synonyms

Biased kin investment; Differential parental investment; Discriminative parental solicitude

Definition

From an evolutionary psychological perspective, males and females exhibit different child-rearing tendencies due to inherent obligatory differences in the degree of parental investment. In this framework, mothers tend to invest more in their children when compared to the degree demonstrated by fathers; because females generally invest more in their descendants than males, individuals are inclined to prefer children from the maternal lineage over those from the paternal lineage.

Gender Differences in Child-Rearing

Researchers in various scientific fields have investigated gender roles in child-rearing. In this entry, we consider the topic from the evolutionary psychological perspective. According to parental investment theory (Trivers, 1972), natural selection favors parents who make costly investments in their offspring, as such children are more likely to survive and...

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References

  • Hrdy, S. B. (2009). Mothers and others: The evolutionary origins of mutual understanding. Harvard University Press.

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  • Pashos, A. (2017). Asymmetric caregiving by grandparents, aunts, and uncles and the theories of kin selection and paternity certainty: How does evolution explain human behavior toward close relatives? Cross-Cultural Research, 51(3), 263–284.

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  • Perry, G., & Daly, M. (2017). A model explaining the matrilateral bias in alloparental investment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(35), 9290–9295.

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  • 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.

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  • Tanskanen, A. O., & Danielsbacka, M. (2019). Intergenerational family relations: An evolutionary social science approach. Routledge.

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  • Trivers, R. L. (1972). Parental investment and sexual selection. In B. Campbell (Ed.), Sexual selection and the descent of man 1871–1971 (pp. 136–179). Aldine.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the Strategic Research Council (345183) and Academy of Finland (320162 and 338869).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Turku, Turku, Finland

    Antti O. Tanskanen, Mirkka Danielsbacka & Hans Hämäläinen

  2. Population Research Institute, Helsinki, Finland

    Antti O. Tanskanen, Mirkka Danielsbacka & Hans Hämäläinen

Authors
  1. Antti O. Tanskanen
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  2. Mirkka Danielsbacka
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  3. Hans Hämäläinen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Antti O. Tanskanen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, ROCHESTER, MN, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  2. Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Gavin Vance

  3. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester Hills, MI, USA

    Madeleine K. Meehan

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Tanskanen, A.O., Danielsbacka, M., Hämäläinen, H. (2023). Child-Rearing: Gender Roles. In: Shackelford, T.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sexual Psychology and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08956-5_61-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08956-5_61-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-08956-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-08956-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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