Alloparental Support and Infant Psychomotor Developmental Delay.
1School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Bond University, Gold Coast, QLD, 4229, Australia. dwaynfor@bond.edu.au.
Human Nature (Hawthorne, N.Y.)
|February 14, 2024
Summary
Social support and shared infant care, particularly from extended family, benefit infant development even in industrialized nations. This support is linked to lower risks of developmental delay in babies.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary biology
- Developmental psychology
- Sociology
Background:
- Historically, extended family support (allocare) for mothers and infants improved infant health and survival, conferring a fitness benefit.
- Evidence for continued benefits of allocare in industrialized societies is limited, despite its evolutionary significance.
- Investigating social support's impact on infant development in modern contexts is crucial for understanding ongoing evolutionary selection.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the association between social support for mothers and the risk of developmental delay in 9-month-old infants in the UK.
- To determine if evolutionary benefits of allocare persist in industrialized societies.
- To identify specific types of social support (kin, friends, paternal involvement) that influence infant development.
Main Methods:
- Utilized multiple logistic regression analysis on data from the UK Millennium Cohort study.
- Included 15,696 infants in the analysis sample.
- Assessed the relationship between various forms of maternal social support and infant developmental delay risk.
Main Results:
- Infants of mothers receiving kin-based childcare had a significantly lower risk of developmental delay (OR=0.61).
- Maternal time spent with friends daily was associated with lower odds of infant developmental delay compared to no social interaction.
- Increased paternal involvement in infant care correlated with a reduced risk of developmental delay.
Conclusions:
- Shared infant care and social support for mothers positively influence fitness-related traits in industrialized societies.
- These factors appear to be relevant beyond traditional, non-industrialized contexts with strong kin networks.
- The findings suggest that evolutionary selection for allocare may continue in modern, industrialized populations.
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