Early socioecological determinants of adolescent behavioral strategies

• Main Author: Lambourne, Carol A
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01.01.2007
• Subjects: Developmental psychology; Mental health; Physical anthropology
• ISBN: 9780549426240; 0549426248

When compared to other primates, human juvenile development is unique in that it includes a prolonged post-pubertal adolescent phase, during which individuals continue to be dependent upon parents and other adults for care, guidance, provisioning, and the acquisition of skills and knowledge required for adult roles and responsibilities. The way in which resources are allocated during this period thus has important implications for future reproductive and economic outcomes. However, contrary to prevailing assumptions about the nuclear family ideal, paternal loss, due to divorce or other causes, is neither a new nor rare phenomenon in human history. Instead, the absence of investment from grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other non-parental related adults during development may be the notable difference between the familial contexts of youth living in affluent nuclear family-based environments such as the United States, and their antecedents throughout most of human history. With this knowledge, the aim of this study was to gain a better understanding of the extent to which members of the extended family are able to mediate the relationship between educational outcomes and sexual behavior during adolescence, using a sample of 390 undergraduate students at the University of New Mexico. This study varies from much of the existing literature in this area by employing an evolutionary anthropological perspective, which enables us to interpret observed patterns of behavior as context-specific, within a broader range of temporally and cross-culturally variable environments. The dissertation comprises three major sections. Firstly, I test the main hypothesis that educational achievement and investment is compromised during adolescence by the timing of the onset and pattern of sexual behavior. Secondly, I incorporate childhood exposures to non-parental adult relatives to investigate whether these players have any mediating impacts upon the trade-off identified above, by enabling individuals to better withstand the educational costs of sexual behavior. Finally, and motivated by the burgeoning literature on the deleterious effects of father-absence amongst girls, I test the hypothesis that exposure to grandmothers during pre-pubertal development mediates the education-sexual behavior effects associated with paternal loss.