Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Information transfer, kin investment, and risk reduction among elderly Tsimane

研究生埃里克施尼特，在博士的监督下，迈克尔D。Gurven将研究Tsimane老人如何以及在何种条件下为社区其他人的福祉做出贡献。Tsimane是玻利维亚亚马逊地区的一个土著民族，他们生活在小村庄里，通过捕鱼、狩猎、采集和园艺获得食物。这项研究分为四个阶段，为期三个月，主要在六个Tsimane重点社区进行。在第一阶段，他将对社区进行人口普查和绘图，包括记录亲属关系和生育史。他还将进行焦点小组访谈，调查Tsimane对老年人技能、能力和优势的看法。在第二阶段，他将对不同年龄的Tsimane进行专业知识和信息传递方面的采访。在第三阶段，他将收集100名老年人日常活动的细节。最后，在第四阶段，他将研究100名老年人的个人网络。老年Tsimane如何以及为什么在他们的社会中发挥作用是一个重要的研究课题，因为它有助于解释为什么人类长寿。令科学家感到困惑的是，大多数动物的寿命只有在它们能够繁殖和照顾自己的时候，而人类的寿命超过了它们的生殖年龄，并且经常依赖他人生存。虽然怀疑老年Tsimane通过提供食物来帮助他们周围的人，但这项研究着眼于技能和能力，支持网络和幸福，以确定老年Tsimane的角色是否可能更沿着提供帮助的方式提供建议，知识，娱乐，情感支持，情感，调解和监督。关于老年人如何获得所需帮助以及如何帮助他们周围的人的知识，可以实际应用于世界各地庞大且不断增长的老年人口的预期问题。

Graduate student Eric Schniter, under the supervision of Dr. Michael D. Gurven, will undertake research on how and under what conditions elderly Tsimane contribute to the well-being of others in their communities. Tsimane are an indigenous people found in the Bolivian Amazon where they live in small villages and get their food from fishing, hunting, gathering, and gardening. The research is organized into four three-month phases, and will take place primarily in six focal Tsimane communities. During phase one, he will census and map the communities, including taking kinship and reproductive histories. He also will conduct focus group interviews to investigate Tsimane ideas about skills, abilities, and strengths of the elderly. During phase two, he will conduct interviews on expertise and information transfer between Tsimane of different ages. During phase three, he will collect details of the daily activities of 100 older adults. Finally, during phase four, he will examine personal networks of 100 older adults.How and why older Tsimane make a difference in their society is an important topic to study because it helps explain why humans live long lives. It has puzzled scientists that, while most animals live only as long as they can reproduce and take care of themselves, humans live past their reproductive years and often become dependent on others for their survival. While doubtful that elderly Tsimane are helping those around them by providing food, this study looks at skills and abilities, support networks, and well-being in an effort to determine if the role of elderly Tsimane might be more along the lines of providing help in the form of advice, knowledge, entertainment, emotional support, affection, mediation, and supervision. Knowledge about how elderly get the help they need and also help those around them can be practically applied to anticipated problems of a large and growing old-age population across the world.