ArticleNature human behaviour2019
Testing adaptive hypotheses of alloparenting in Agta foragers.
Article in Nature human behaviour, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers.
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Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed.
- Reading hominin life history in fossil bones and teeth: methods to test hypotheses regarding its evolution.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2026Review
- Religious parents receive more alloparental aid in rural Bangladesh.Evolutionary human sciences · 2026Article
- Demographic synchrony increases volatility and extinction risk in human populations.Cambridge prisms. Extinction · 2026Article
- Indirect genetic effects among neighbors promote cooperation and accelerate adaptation in a small-scale human society.Science advances · 2025Article
- Demography of grandmothering: a case study in Agta foragers.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Children's Caregiving and Growth in Northwestern Tanzania: Limited Evidence That Support From Specific Caregivers Is Associated With Better Growth.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2025Article
- Religious Involvement Is Associated With Higher Fertility and Lower Maternal Investment, but More Alloparental Support Among Gambian Mothers.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2024Article
- Exploring Within-Gender Differences in Friendships Using an Online Social Network.Archives of sexual behavior · 2024Article
- Behavioral and neural responses to social exclusion in women: the role of facial attractiveness and friendliness.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Women's subsistence networks scaffold cultural transmission among BaYaka foragers in the Congo Basin.Science advances · 2024Article
- Hunter-Gatherer children's close-proximity networks: Similarities and differences with cooperative and communal breeding systems.Evolutionary human sciences · 2024Article
- Shodagor women cooperate across domains of work and childcare to solve an adaptive problem.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Dynamics of cooperative networks associated with gender among South Indian Tamils.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Kin networks and opportunities for reproductive cooperation and conflict among hunter-gatherers.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Sedentarization and maternal childcare networks: role of risk, gender and demography.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Thriving together: the benefits of women's social ties for physical, psychological and relationship health.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023Review
- Wealth, health and inequality in Agta foragers.Evolution, medicine, and public health · 2023Article
- Cooperation and partner choice among Agta hunter-gatherer children: An evolutionary developmental perspective.PloS one · 2023Article
- Response to Commentaries: Variation in Women's Intrasexual Sociality by Life History Strategy, Patrilocal Legacy, and Polygyny.Archives of sexual behavior · 2022Article
- Social Support and Network Formation in a Small-Scale Horticulturalist Population.Scientific data · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Human children are frequently cared for by non-parental caregivers (alloparents), yet few studies have conducted systematic alternative hypothesis tests of why alloparents help. Here we explore whether predictions from kin selection, reciprocity, learning-to-mother and costly signalling hypotheses explain non-parental childcare among Agta hunter-gatherers from the Philippines. To test these hypotheses, we used high-resolution proximity data from 1,701 child-alloparent dyads. Our results indicated that reciprocity and relatedness were positively associated with the number of interactions with a child (our proxy for childcare). Need appeared more influential in close kin, suggesting indirect benefits, while reciprocity proved to be a stronger influence in non-kin, pointing to direct benefits. However, despite shared genes, close and distant kin interactions were also contingent on reciprocity. Compared with other apes, humans are unique in rapidly producing energetically demanding offspring. Our results suggest that the support that mothers require is met through support based on kinship and reciprocity.
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