Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Alloparenting

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

Synonyms

Babysitting; Caregiving; Communal breeding; Cooperative breeding; Cooperative childrearing

Definition

Caregiving by nonparental caregivers, who provide direct and/or indirect investments to a child

Introduction

Who helped you develop into the person you are today? Most of us may think about a parent or parents, but many of us would also recognize the important role of other people. Perhaps it’s a teacher, a grandparent, or a neighborhood friend. The fact that we are supported by many people in our childhood is, in fact, very unusual: In nonhuman mammals, support – or investments – for juveniles are typically and solely provided by the biological mother. Only 9–10% of mammals display parental care, where biological fathers are additionally involved in raising offspring, without the support of other helpers (Kleiman and Malcolm 1981). In humans, we see a notably different system of facultative fathering, where biological fathers may or may not provide investments into their...

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

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Allen, S. F. (2003). Working parents with young children: Cross-national comparisons of policies and programmes in three countries. International Journal of Social Welfare, 12, 261–273.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, K. G. (2000). The life histories of American stepfathers in evolutionary perspective. Human Nature, 11(4), 307–333.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blurton Jones, N. G., Hawkes, K., & O’Connell, J. F. (2005). Older Hadza men and women as helpers: Residence data. In B. S. Hewlett (Ed.), Hunter-gatherer childhoods: Evolutionary, developmental and cultural perspectives (pp. 214–236). New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen, F., Short, S., & Entwise, B. (2000). The impact of grandparental proximity on maternal childcare in China. Population Research and Policy Review, 19, 571–590.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Emmott, E. H. (2015). Allomaternal investments and child outcomes in the United Kingdom. Doctoral dissertation, UCL (University College London).

    Google Scholar 

  • Emmott, E. H., & Mace, R. (2014). Direct investment by stepfathers can mitigate effects on educational outcomes but does not improve behavioural difficulties. Evolution and Human Behaviour, 35(5), 438–444.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Emmott, E. H., & Mace, R. (2015). Practical support from fathers and grandmothers is associated with lower levels of breastfeeding in the UK millennium cohort study. PLoS One, 10(7), e0133547.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fairbanks, L. A. (1990). Reciprocal benefits of allomothering for female vervet monkeys. Animal Behaviour, 40(3), 553–562.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gibson, M. A., & Mace, R. (2005). Helpful grandmothers in rural Ethiopia: A study of the effect of kin on child survival and growth. Evolution and Human Behaviour, 26(6), 469–482.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hadley, C. (2004). The costs and benefits of Kin: Kin networks and children’s health among the Pimbwe of Tanzania. Human Nature, 15(4), 377–395.

    Article  Google Scholar 

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

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaeggi, A. V., Hooper, P. L., Beheim, B. A., Kaplan, H., & Gurven, M. (2016). Reciprocal exchange patterned by market forces helps explain cooperation in a small-scale society. Current Biology, 26, 2180–2187.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kleiman, D. G., & Malcolm, J. R. (1981). the evolution of male parental investment in mammals. In D. J. Gubernick & P. H. Klopfer (Eds.), Parental care in mammals (pp. 347–387). New York: Plenum Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Kramer, K. L., & Veile, A. (2018). Infant allocare in traditional societies. Physiology & Behavior, 193, 117–126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kushnick, G. (2012). Helper effects on breeder allocations to direct care. American Journal of Human Biology, 24(4), 545–550.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Langer, N., & Ribarich, M. (2007). Aunts, uncles – Nieces, nephews: Kinship relations over the lifespan. Educational Gerontology, 33(1), 75–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lawson, D. W., Alvergne, A., & Gibson, M. A. (2012). The life-history trade-off between fertility and child survival. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 279(1748), 4755–4764.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • LeVine, R. A., Dixon, S., LeVine, S., Keefer, C. H., Richman, A., Leiderman, P. H., & Brazelton, T. B. (1996). Child care and culture: Lessons from Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

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

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meehan, C. L., Quinlan, R., & Malcom, C. D. (2013). Cooperative breeding and maternal energy expenditure among Aka foragers. American Journal of Human Biology, 25(1), 42–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meehan, C. L., Helfrecht, C., & Quinlan, R. J. (2014). Cooperative breeding and Aka children’s nutritional status: Is flexibility key? American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 153(4), 513–525.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Melhuish, E. C. (2004). A literature review of the impact of early years provision on young children, with emphasis given to children from disadvantaged backgrounds. London: National Audit Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Page, A. E., Chaudhary, N., Viguier, S., Dyble, M., Smith, D., Salali, G., … Migliano, A. B. (2017). Hunter-gatherer social networks and reproductive success. Scientific Reports, 7, 1153.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pollet, T. V., Nelissen, M., & Nettle, D. (2009). Lineage based differences in grandparental investment: evidence from a large British cohort study. Journal of Biosocial Science, 41(3), 355–379.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sear, R., & Coall, D. (2011). How much does family matter? Cooperative breeding and the demographic transition. Population and Development Review, 37, 81–112.

    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 Behaviour, 29(1), 1–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, E. A., Bird, R. B., & Bird, D. W. (2003). The benefits of costly signaling: Meriam turtle hunters. Behavioral Ecology, 14(1), 116–126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Snopkowski, K., & Sear, R. (2013). Kin influences on fertility in Thailand: Effects and mechanisms. Evolution and Human Behavior, 34(2), 130–138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tecot, S., & Baden, A. L. (2015). Primate allomaternal care. In: Emerging trends in the social and behavioral sciences (eds R. A. Scott and S. M. Kosslyn). John Wiley & Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118900772.etrds0263

  • 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, 295–304.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. UCL Anthropology, University College London, London, UK

    Emily H. Emmott

  2. Department of Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK

    Abigail E. Page

Authors
  1. Emily H. Emmott
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Abigail E. Page
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Emily H. Emmott .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

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

    Todd K. Shackelford

  2. Rochester, MI, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

    Kevin M. Kniffin

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Emmott, E.H., Page, A.E. (2019). Alloparenting. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2253-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2253-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

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

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation