Grandpaternal care and child survival in a pastoralist society in western China
Grandpaternal care and child survival in a pastoralist society in western China
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DOI：
10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2022.06.001
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发表时间：
2022-09-12
影响因子：
5.1
通讯作者：
Mace，Ruth
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Du，Juan;Page，Abigail E.;Mace，Ruth
人类父母需要大量支持来抚养多个高度依赖的后代。祖母经常被强调为关键的异母（非母亲照顾者），她们的存在常常与儿童存活率的提高有关，导致一些人将人类描述为合作繁殖者。同样有据可查的是人类儿童保育系统的多样性，其中有各种各样的人支持包括男性亲属在内的父母。然而，祖父的作用却鲜有记录，而且他们似乎与儿童生存率的关系不一致，取决于社会生态因素。在这里，我们利用中国西部牧民社区的人口和时间预算数据，探讨祖父母异母同父异母与儿童生存之间的关系。我们发现，五岁以下儿童的死亡率与祖辈的生活状况呈负相关，但与祖辈的生活状况无关。玛曲的牧民最近从流动的生计转变为半定居的生计，其中女性比男性在经济上更加活跃。结果，妇女的育儿工作量减少了，而老年男性（被排除在家庭经济之外）则负责监督孩子。我们的研究结果表明，儿童保育模式是灵活的，并强调需要考虑社会和生态因素以了解异母喂养和儿童生存。
Human parents require significant support to raise multiple, highly dependent offspring. Grandmothers are often highlighted as key allomothers (non-maternal caregivers) and their presence is frequently associated with increased child survivorship, leading some to describe humans as cooperative breeders. Equally well documented is the diversity of human childcare systems, where a wide range of individuals support parents including male kin. However, the role of grandfathers has been less well documented, and they seem to have an inconsistent relationship with child survivorship, dependent on socio-ecological factors. Here, we explore the relationship between grandparental allomothering and child survivorship using demographic and time budget data from a pastoralists community in western China. We find that under-five mortality is negatively associated with grandpaternal, but not grandmaternal, living status. Pastoralists in Maqu have recently transitioned from mobile to half-settled livelihoods in which women are more economically active than males. As a result, women's childcare workloads have decreased, while older men (who are excluded from the household economy) supervise children. Our results suggest that patterns of childcare are flexible and highlight the need to consider social and ecological factors to understand allomothering and child survival.