Parental Investment by Birth Fathers and Stepfathers : Roles of Mating Effort and Childhood Co-residence Duration.
Family
Father-child relations
Intergenerational relations
Kinship
Parenting
Journal
Human nature (Hawthorne, N.Y.)
ISSN: 1936-4776
Titre abrégé: Hum Nat
Pays: United States
ID NLM: 9010063
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
Jun 2023
Jun 2023
Historique:
accepted:
17
05
2023
medline:
21
7
2023
pubmed:
10
6
2023
entrez:
10
6
2023
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
This study investigates the determinants of paternal investment by birth fathers and stepfathers. Inclusive fitness theory predicts higher parental investment in birth children than stepchildren, and this has consistently been found in previous studies. Here we investigate whether paternal investment varies with childhood co-residence duration and differs between stepfathers and divorced birth fathers by comparing the investment of (1) stepfathers, (2) birth fathers who are separated from the child's mother, and (3) birth fathers who still are in a relationship with her. Path analysis was conducted using cross-sectional data from adolescents and younger adults (aged 17-19, 27-29, and 37-39 years) from the German Family Panel (pairfam), collected in 2010-2011 (n = 8326). As proxies of paternal investment, we used financial and practical help, emotional support, intimacy, and emotional closeness, as reported by the children. We found that birth fathers who were still in a relationship with the mother invested the most, and stepfathers invested the least. Furthermore, the investment of both separated fathers and stepfathers increased with the duration of co-residence with the child. However, in the case of financial help and intimacy, the effect of childhood co-residence duration was stronger in stepfathers than in separated fathers. Our findings support inclusive fitness theory and mating effort theory in explaining social behavior and family dynamics in this population. Furthermore, social environment, such as childhood co-residence was associated with paternal investment.
Identifiants
pubmed: 37300791
doi: 10.1007/s12110-023-09450-6
pii: 10.1007/s12110-023-09450-6
pmc: PMC10354157
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
276-294Subventions
Organisme : Academy of Finland
ID : 325857
Organisme : Academy of Finland
ID : 331400
Organisme : Academy of Finland
ID : 320162
Organisme : Academy of Finland
ID : 317808
Organisme : Strategic Research Council
ID : 345183
Informations de copyright
© 2023. The Author(s).
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