Dissertation Research: Determinants of the Kin Assistance Patterns of Garifuna Men

这项研究的目的是促进我们对男性在抚养自己的孩子方面做出的贡献与对抚养其他亲属子女的贡献不同的原因的理解。该项目涉及新墨西哥大学一位文化人类学家的论文研究，他研究的是中美洲洪都拉斯的加里富纳族群。在这个社会中，一些男人完全参与抚养他们的孩子，而另一些男人则很少参与，将他们的大部分收入用于母亲的家庭，以支持他们的成年姐妹抚养这些男人的子女、侄女和侄子。关于导致这些模式的社会特征的假设将使用结构化访谈技术进行定量测试。亲属制度、婚姻制度、当地经济条件、流动劳动力模式和家庭类型的特征都将被视为亲子关系支持的潜在决定因素。随着全世界范围内关于父亲缺席对儿童结果的广泛负面影响的证据的积累，理解是什么动机以及是什么阻碍了男性的父母参与，引起了越来越多的兴趣。来自该项目的新知识将对进化理论家以及关心父母参与儿童福利的规划者有用。此外，该项目将促进对一名年轻社会科学家的培训，并增进我们对世界这一重要领域的了解。

This research aims to advance our understanding of the causes of variations in the levels of contributions men make towards raising their own children as opposed to their contributions towards raising other related children. The project involves the dissertation research of a cultural anthropologist from the University of New Mexico, studying the Garifuna ethnic group of Honduras, Central America. Among this society some men are fully involved in the upbringing of their children, while others are minimally involved and direct much of their income towards their maternal home to support their adult sisters as they raise children, nieces and nephews of the men. Hypotheses about features of society which cause these patterns will be tested quantitatively using structured interview techniques. Features of the kinship system, marriage system, local economic conditions, migratory labor patterns and household types will all be examined as potential determinants of paternity support. An understanding of what motivates and what discourages the parental involvement of men is of increasing interest as evidence accumulates world-wide on the negative impact of paternal absence on a wide range of childhood outcomes. The new knowledge from this project will be useful to evolutionary theorists as well as planners concerned about parental involvement in children's welfare. In addition the project will advance ther training of a young social scientist and improve our knowledge about this important area of the world.