Dr Sheina Lew-Levy sheina.lew-levy@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor
Dr Sheina Lew-Levy sheina.lew-levy@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor
Rachel Reckin
Stephen M. Kissler
Ilaria Pretelli
Adam H. Boyette
Alyssa N. Crittenden
Renée V. Hagen
Randall Haas
Karen L. Kramer
Jeremy Koster
Matthew J. O'Brien
Koji Sonoda
Todd A. Surovell
Jonathan Stieglitz
Bram Tucker
Noa Lavi
Kate Ellis-Davies
Helen E. Davis
A key issue distinguishing prominent evolutionary models of human life history is whether prolonged childhood evolved to facilitate learning in a skill- and strength-intensive foraging niche requiring high levels of cooperation. Considering the diversity of environments humans inhabit, children’s activities should also reflect local social and ecological opportunities and constraints. To better understand our species’ developmental plasticity, the present paper compiled a time allocation dataset for children and adolescents from twelve hunter-gatherer and mixed-subsistence forager societies (n = 690; 3–18 years; 52% girls). We investigated how environmental factors, local ecological risk, and men and women’s relative energetic contributions were associated with cross-cultural variation in child and adolescent time allocation to childcare, food production, domestic work, and play. Annual precipitation, annual mean temperature, and net primary productivity were not strongly associated with child and adolescent activity budgets. Increased risk of encounters with dangerous animals and dehydration negatively predicted time allocation to childcare and domestic work, but not food production. Gender differences in child and adolescent activity budgets were stronger in societies where men made greater direct contributions to food production than women. We interpret these findings as suggesting that children and their caregivers adjust their activities to facilitate the early acquisition of knowledge which helps children safely cooperate with adults in a range of social and ecological environments. These findings compel us to consider how childhood may have also evolved to facilitate flexible participation in productive activities in early life.
Lew-Levy, S., Reckin, R., Kissler, S. M., Pretelli, I., Boyette, A. H., Crittenden, A. N., …Davis, H. E. (2022). Socioecology shapes child and adolescent time allocation in twelve hunter-gatherer and mixed-subsistence forager societies. Scientific Reports, 12, Article 8054. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-12217-1
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | May 6, 2022 |
Online Publication Date | May 16, 2022 |
Publication Date | 2022 |
Deposit Date | Sep 11, 2023 |
Journal | Scientific Reports |
Publisher | Nature Research |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 12 |
Article Number | 8054 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-12217-1 |
Public URL | https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1734026 |
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