Synonyms
Introduction
The period of immaturity is known to be more protracted in humans than in other primates. This text sets out to compare the various developmental stages of the immaturity period in mammals in order to more specifically explore the adaptive value of each stage for human beings, with special emphasis on childhood.
The Four Stages of the Immaturity Period in Human Beings
Most mammal species progress from infancy to adulthood without any intervening stages (Bogin 1990). The infancy stage ends when breastfeeding stops (Bogin 1997). Highly social mammals, such as wolves, wild dogs, lions, elephants, and the primates, delay puberty with a period of juvenile growth between infancy and adulthood (Bogin 1997). Juveniles are defined as “prepubertal individuals that are no longer dependent on their parents for survival” (Pereira and Altmann 1985). Presumably, adolescence later emerged, by natural selection, among the apes. Adolescence is a...
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Paquette, D., Bigras, M. (2018). Duration of Childhood. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2384-1
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