Development of teaching in ni-Vanuatu children.

Teaching is an important mechanism of social learning. In industrialized societies, 3-year-olds tend to teach through demonstrations and short commands, while 5-year-olds use more verbal communication and abstract explanations. However, it remains unclear whether this generalizes to other cultures. This study presents results from a peer teaching game with 55 Melanesian children (4.7-11.4 years, 24 female) conducted in Vanuatu in 2019. Up to age 8, most participants taught through a participatory approach, emphasizing learning-by-doing, demonstrations, and short commands (57.1% of children aged 4-6 and 57.9% of children aged 7-8). Contrary to Western findings, abstract verbal communication only became common in children aged 9-11 (63.6%), suggesting that the ontogeny of teaching is shaped by the socio-cultural environment.

Testing the buffering hypothesis: Breastfeeding problems, cessation, and social support in the UK.

OBJECTIVES: Physical breastfeeding problems can lead women to terminate breastfeeding earlier than planned. In high-income countries such as the UK, breastfeeding problems have been attributed to the cultural and individual "inexperience" of breastfeeding, ultimately leading to lower breastfeeding rates. Yet, cross-cultural evidence suggests breastfeeding problems still occur in contexts where breastfeeding is common, prolonged, and seen publicly. This suggests breastfeeding problems are not unusual and do not necessarily lead to breastfeeding cessation. As humans evolved to raise children cooperatively, what matters for breastfeeding continuation may be the availability of social support during the postnatal period. Here, we test the hypothesis that social support buffers mothers from the negative impact breastfeeding problems have on duration. METHODS: We run Cox models on a sample of 565 UK mothers who completed a retrospective online survey about infant feeding and social support in 2017-2018. RESULTS: Breastfeeding problems were important predictors of cessation; however, the direction of the effect was dependent on the problem type and type of support from a range of supporters. Helpful support for discomfort issues (blocked ducts, too much milk) was significantly associated with reduced hazards of cessation, as predicted. However, helpful support for reported milk insufficiency was assoicated with an increased hazard of cessation. CONCLUSIONS: Experiencing breastfeeding problems is the norm, but its impact may be mitigated via social support. Working from an interdisciplinary approach, our results highlight that a wide range of supporters who provide different types of support have potential to influence maternal breastfeeding experience.

Why the Son-bias in Caregiving? Testing Sex-differences in the Associations Between Paternal Caregiving and Child Outcomes in England.

Studies show that fathers across Western populations tend to provide more care to sons than daughters. Following a human behavioral ecological framework, we hypothesize that son-biases in fathering may (at least in part) be due to differences in fitness returns to paternal direct investments by child's sex. In this study, we investigate sex-differences in the associations between paternal caregiving and children's outcomes in stable, two-parent families. Using data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, we test whether paternal caregiving in early childhood is associated with different effects on children's school test scores and behavioral difficulties by children's sex. Overall, we find that paternal caregiving is associated with higher school test scores and lower behavioral difficulty scores, but the association between paternal caregiving and school test scores was stronger for boys. Our findings highlight possible sex-differences in returns to paternal caregiving for certain domains of child outcomes in England.

Direct investment by stepfathers can mitigate effects on educational outcomes but does not improve behavioural difficulties.

In contemporary developed populations, stepfather presence has been associated with detrimental effects on child development. However, the proximate mechanisms behind such effects are yet to be fully explored. From a behavioural ecological perspective, the negative effects associated with stepfathers may be due to the reduced quantity and quality of investments children receive within stepfather households. Here, we build on previous studies by investigating whether the effects of stepfather presence on child outcomes are driven by differences in maternal and partner (i.e., father or stepfather) direct investments. We use data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children to explore stepfather effects on children's educational achievement and behavioural difficulties at age 7. Our results indicate that, for educational achievement, stepfather effects are due to the lower levels of direct investments children receive. For behavioural difficulty, stepfather effects are due to multiple factors whereby stepfather presence is associated with greater difficulties independent of investment levels, and direct investments from stepfathers are ineffective. Our results suggest that the negative effects of stepfathers on child outcomes can be explained, in part, by the reduced quantity and the ineffectiveness of direct investments children receive from stepfathers. Furthermore, the effects of stepfather direct investments seem to vary between child outcomes.

Adoption, Fostering, and Parental Absence in Vanuatu.

Alloparenting, wherein people provide care to children who are not their biological offspring, is a key aspect of human child-rearing. In the Pacific, many children are adopted or fostered by custodial alloparents even when both biological parents are still alive. From a behavioral ecology perspective, such behaviors are puzzling: why parent someone else's child at your expense? Furthermore, little is known about how these arrangements are made in Pacific Islander societies today, who provides care, and what kinds of outcomes fostered children experience. A better understanding of these proximate factors may help reveal the ultimate drivers behind custodial alloparenting. Here, we report findings from a survey carried out with the caregivers of 282 children in rural areas of Vanuatu, an island nation in Melanesia. Most fostered and adopted children lived with relatives such as aunts, uncles, and grandparents (87.5%) rather than unrelated caregivers, with a strong preference for maternal kin. The most common reasons for these arrangements were that the parents had separated (16.7%), were engaging in labor migration (27.1%), or a combination of both (27.1%). Results for investment in children's education and their educational outcomes were mixed, although children removed from crisis situations did more poorly than children removed for aspirational reasons. Our findings suggest that custodial alloparenting helps families adapt to socioeconomic transitions and changing marriage practices. Outcomes may depend on a range of factors, such as the reason children were transferred out of the natal home to begin with.

The impact of COVID-19 lockdown on postpartum mothers in London, England: An online focus group study.

Aims: This study examines the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on postpartum mothers in England, with the aim of identifying opportunities to improve maternal experience and wellbeing. The postpartum/postnatal period is widely acknowledged as a time when mothers require greater levels of support from multiple sources. However, stay-at-home orders, commonly known as "lockdown," deployed in some countries to limit COVID-19 transmission reduced access to support. In England, many postpartum mothers navigated household isolation within an intensive mothering and expert parenting culture. Examining the impact of lockdown may reveal strengths and weaknesses in current policy and practice. Subject and methods: We conducted online focus groups involving 20 mothers living in London, England, with "lockdown babies," following up on our earlier online survey on social support and maternal wellbeing. We thematically analysed focus group transcripts, and identified key themes around Lockdown Experience and Determinants of Lockdown Experience. Results: Participants raised some positives of lockdown, including fostering connections and protection from external expectations, but also raised many negatives, including social isolation, institutional abandonment, and intense relationships within the household. Potential reasons behind variations in lockdown experience include physical environments, timing of birth, and number of children. Our findings reflect how current systems may be "trapping" some families into the male-breadwinner/female-caregiver family model, while intensive mothering and expert parenting culture may be increasing maternal stress and undermining responsive mothering. Conclusions: Facilitating partners to stay at home during the postpartum period (e.g., increasing paternity leave and flexible working) and establishing peer/community support to decentre reliance on professional parenting experts may promote positive postpartum maternal experience and wellbeing. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10389-023-01922-4.

Communication Across Maternal Social Networks During England's First National Lockdown and Its Association With Postnatal Depressive Symptoms.

Postnatal/postpartum depression (PND/PPD) had a pre-COVID-19 estimated prevalence ranging up to 23% in Europe, 33% in Australia, and 64% in America, and is detrimental to both mothers and their infants. Low social support is a key risk factor for developing PND. From an evolutionary perspective this is perhaps unsurprising, as humans evolved as cooperative childrearers, inherently reliant on social support to raise children. The coronavirus pandemic has created a situation in which support from social networks beyond the nuclear family is likely to be even more important to new mothers, as it poses risks and stresses for mothers to contend with; whilst at the same time, social distancing measures designed to limit transmission create unprecedented alterations to their access to such support. Using data from 162 mothers living in London with infants aged ≤6 months, we explore how communication with members of a mother's social network related to her experience of postnatal depressive symptoms during the first "lockdown" in England. Levels of depressive symptoms, as assessed via the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, were high, with 47.5% of the participants meeting a ≥11 cut-off for PND. Quasi-Poisson regression modelling found that the number of network members seen in-person, and remote communication with a higher proportion of those not seen, was negatively associated with depressive symptoms; however, contact with a higher proportion of relatives was positively associated with symptoms, suggesting kin risked seeing mothers in need. Thematic qualitative analysis of open text responses found that mothers experienced a burden of constant mothering, inadequacy of virtual contact, and sadness and worries about lost social opportunities, while support from partners facilitated family bonding. While Western childrearing norms focus on intensive parenting, and fathers are key caregivers, our results highlight that it still "takes a village" to raise children in high-income populations and mothers are struggling in its absence.

The relationship between social support, stressful events, and menopause symptoms.

Many women going through the menopausal transition experience vasomotor symptoms (VMS), and research has shown that there is a large amount of variation in their frequency and severity. Many lifestyle factors have been found to co-vary with VMS, including the level of social support received by the woman, and how stressed she is. Stress is well documented to worsen menopause symptoms, and there is some evidence that support eases them; however, there is little research into whether support is an effective buffer against the negative effects of stress on VMS. Using nine years of data from the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (n = 2718), we use multilevel Poisson regression with random effects to test: 1) if more social support is associated with decreased VMS frequency, 2) if increased life stress worsens VMS, and 3) if support acts as a buffer against stress. After adjusting for age, marital status, smoking, self-perceived overall health, ethnicity, and menopausal status, we find that stress increases the frequency of VMS. Contrary to our hypothesis, we did not find strong evidence that emotional support led to lower VMS frequency, or that support buffers against the effects of stress. Experience of a stressful event, but not amount of social support, was included in the best fitting model; with the degree to which the woman was upset by the life stressor having the largest effect on menopause symptoms. Here, women who said they were currently upset by a stressful event experienced 21% more VMS than women who had experienced no life stressor. This research highlights that social factors may impact the menopausal transition.

Who cares for women with children? Crossing the bridge between disciplines.

It has long been acknowledged that women with children require social support to promote their health and wellbeing, as well as that of their children. However, the dominant conceptualizations of support have been heavily influenced by Western family norms. The consequence, at best, has been to stifle our understanding of the nature and consequences of support for mothers and children. At worst, it has led to systematic discrimination negatively impacting maternal-child health. To fully engage with the complexities of social support, we must take multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary approaches spanning diverse cultural and geographical perspectives. However, multidisciplinary knowledge-processing can be challenging, and it is often unclear how different studies from different disciplines relate. To address this, we outline two epistemological frameworks-the scientific approach and Tinbergen's four questions-that can be useful tools in connecting research across disciplines. In this theme issue on 'Multidisciplinary perspectives on social support and maternal-child health', we attempt to foster multidisciplinary thinking by presenting work from a diverse range of disciplines, populations and cultures. Our hope is that these tools, along with papers in this issue, help to build a holistic understanding of social support and its consequences for mothers and their children. Overall, a multidisciplinary perspective points to how the responsibility of childrearing should not fall solely onto mothers. Indeed, this multidisciplinary issue demonstrates that successful childrearing is consistently an activity shared beyond the mother and the nuclear family: an insight that is crucial to harnessing the potential of social support to improve maternal-child health. This article is part of the theme issue 'Multidisciplinary perspectives on social support and maternal-child health'.

Children are important too: juvenile playgroups and maternal childcare in a foraging population, the Agta.

Non-maternal carers (allomothers) are hypothesized to lighten the mother's workload, allowing for the specialized human life history including relatively short interbirth intervals and multiple dependent offspring. Here, using in-depth observational data on childcare provided to 78 Agta children (a foraging population in the northern Philippines; aged 0-6 years), we explore whether allomaternal childcare substitutes and decreases maternal childcare. We found that allomother caregiving was associated with reduced maternal childcare, but the substitutive effect varied depending on the source and type of care. Children-only playgroups consistently predicted a decrease in maternal childcare. While grandmothers were rarely available, their presence was negatively associated with maternal presence and childcare, and grandmothers performed similar childcare activities to mothers. These results underscore the importance of allomothering in reducing maternal childcare in the Agta. Our findings suggest that flexibility in childcare sources, including children-only playgroups, may have been the key to human life-history evolution. Overall, our results reinforce the necessity of a broad conceptualization of social support in human childcare. This article is part of the theme issue 'Multidisciplinary perspectives on social support and maternal-child health'.

Typologies of postnatal support and breastfeeding at two months in the UK: Response to comments by Harpur & Haddon.

We welcome the comments by Harpur and Haddon (2020) on our paper on the typologies of social support and its associations with breastfeeding at two months in a UK sample. We share their concerns around the under-acknowledged costs of breastfeeding, and the need for a truly family-centred approach to breastfeeding support. However, they are mistaken to assume we do not view breastfeeding problems as an important cost of breastfeeding: We explicitly comment on breastfeeding challenges within our paper, and such challenges are theoretically incorporated into the "costs of breastfeeding" following an evolutionary anthropological framework. They are also incorrect in their statement that we recommend breastfeeding promotion messages to wider family members. In fact, we outline in our manuscript that breastfeeding promotional messages can have negative consequences for mothers, and are unlikely to be supportive. What we do suggest is a family-centred approach that recognises that women interact with, and may be supported by, a wide range of individuals (including fathers and grandmothers); and the importance of taking a nuanced approach to support without assuming that all types of support necessarily leads to "more breastfeeding." We hope our response is useful in clarifying the key points of our paper.

Typologies of postnatal support and breastfeeding at two months in the UK.

There is extensive evidence to suggest that social support improves breastfeeding outcomes. Building on this evidence-base, public health services and interventions aiming to improve breastfeeding rates have primarily targeted informational and emotional support to mothers, reflecting an individual behaviour-change approach. However, mothers exist within a wider social network, and the characteristics of their broader support networks may be an important predictor of breastfeeding outcomes. Here we explore the typologies of postnatal support for mothers in the UK; a population with one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in Europe. Using retrospective data from an online survey (data collection period December 2017 - February 2018), we carry out a latent class regression (n = 432) to identify "clusters" of postnatal support in our data. Mothers in our sample were most likely to report receiving practical and emotional support from partners and maternal grandmothers, and breastfeeding information from health professionals. We identify three distinct typologies of postnatal support: 1) Extensive support, where mothers received support from a wide range of supporters including partners, maternal grandmothers, friends and health professionals, but mothers were the only ones to feed the infant; 2) Family support, where mothers received support from partners and maternal grandmothers, including with infant feeding, but less likely to receive support from health professionals; and 3) Low support, where mothers primarily received support from partners. 94% of women with extensive support were predicted to be breastfeeding at two months, followed by 48% of mothers in the low support group, and 13% in the family support group. Our findings highlight the complexities of family support and its potential impact on breastfeeding, as well as the significance of professional support. Overall, our results hint at the potential value for health professionals to engage with wider family in order to achieve extensive support for mothers.

Subjective Environmental Experiences and Women's Breastfeeding Journeys: A Survival Analysis Using an Online Survey of UK Mothers.

Local physical and social environmental factors are important drivers of human health and behaviour. Environmental perception has been linked with both reproduction and parenting, but links between subjective environmental experiences and breastfeeding remain unclear. Using retrospective data from an online survey of UK mothers of children aged 0-24 months, Cox-Aalen survival models test whether negative subjective environmental experiences negatively correlated with any and exclusive breastfeeding (max n = 473). Matching predictions, hazards of stopping any breastfeeding were increased, albeit non-significantly, across the five environmental measures (HR: 1.05-1.26) Hazards for stopping exclusive breastfeeding were however (non-significantly) reduced (HR: 0.65-0.87). Score processes found no significant time-varying effects. However, estimated cumulative coefficient graphs showed that the first few weeks postpartum were most susceptible to environmental influences and that contrary to our predictions, mothers with worse subjective environmental experiences were less likely to stop breastfeeding at this time. In addition, the hazard of stopping exclusive breastfeeding declined over time for mothers who thought that littering was a problem. The predicted increased hazards of stopping breastfeeding were only evident in the later stages of any breastfeeding and only for mothers who reported littering as a problem or that people tended not to know each other. Perceived harsher physical and social environmental conditions are assumed to deter women from breastfeeding, but this may not always be the case. Women's hazards of stopping breastfeeding change over time and there may be particular timepoints in their breastfeeding journeys where subjective environmental experiences play a role.

How evolutionary behavioural sciences can help us understand behaviour in a pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought science into the public eye and to the attention of governments more than ever before. Much of this attention is on work in epidemiology, virology and public health, with most behavioural advice in public health focusing squarely on 'proximate' determinants of behaviour. While epidemiological models are powerful tools to predict the spread of disease when human behaviour is stable, most do not incorporate behavioural change. The evolutionary basis of our preferences and the cultural evolutionary dynamics of our beliefs drive behavioural change, so understanding these evolutionary processes can help inform individual and government decision-making in the face of a pandemic. Lay summary: The COVID-19 pandemic has brought behavioural sciences into the public eye: Without vaccinations, stopping the spread of the virus must rely on behaviour change by limiting contact between people. On the face of it, "stop seeing people" sounds simple. In practice, this is hard. Here we outline how an evolutionary perspective on behaviour change can provide additional insights. Evolutionary theory postulates that our psychology and behaviour did not evolve to maximize our health or that of others. Instead, individuals are expected to act to maximise their inclusive fitness (i.e, spreading our genes) - which can lead to a conflict between behaviours that are in the best interests for the individual, and behaviours that stop the spread of the virus. By examining the ultimate explanations of behaviour related to pandemic-management (such as behavioural compliance and social distancing), we conclude that "good of the group" arguments and "one size fits all" policies are unlikely to encourage behaviour change over the long-term. Sustained behaviour change to keep pandemics at bay is much more likely to emerge from environmental change, so governments and policy makers may need to facilitate significant social change - such as improving life experiences for disadvantaged groups.

Cohort profile: Children in Need Census (CIN) records of children referred for social care support in England.

PURPOSE: The Children in Need Census (CIN) is a case-based administrative dataset on children referred to social care services in England. CIN includes information on the 'needs' of children, and whether they received social care support. Local and national government bodies in England currently use CIN for evaluation purposes. Data are accessible to researchers under certain conditions, allowing researchers to investigate the health implications of adverse childhood experiences. However, CIN suffers from lack of metadata, meaning it can be challenging for researchers to process and interpret data, particularly if researchers are unfamiliar with the English children's social care system. To address this issue, we provide the background to CIN and describe the available data from 2008 to 2016. PARTICIPANTS: CIN is derived from case records held by English local authorities on all children referred to children's social care for a 'needs assessment', regardless of whether they are eventually assessed as 'in need of social care support'. Local authorities submit these case records to the UK Department for Education for collation. CIN holds information on an estimated 2.76 million children from October 2008 to March 2016. Since 2013/2014, just under 900 000 children have been recorded in the CIN annually, equivalent to around 8% of children in England (annual prevalence). Approximately, 650 000 children enter or renter the dataset each year, equivalent to 5% of children in England (annual incidence). DATA SUMMARY: Of the estimated 2.76 million children in the data, 50% are male and 47% female. 45% are referred to children's social care services due to abuse or neglect. 10.7% of children in CIN went onto a child protection plan, meaning they were judged to be (at risk of) suffering significant harm. FUTURE PLANS: CIN data collection is annual and ongoing. Data from the most recent census period typically become available for researchers in the following Spring.

Practical Support from Fathers and Grandmothers Is Associated with Lower Levels of Breastfeeding in the UK Millennium Cohort Study.

Mothers face trade-offs between infant care and subsistence/economic activities. In traditional populations, allomothers such as fathers and grandmothers support mothers with young infants, allowing them to reduce labour activities and focus on breastfeeding. Similarly, the positive impact of social support on breastfeeding has been highlighted in developed populations. However, these studies have generally focused on emotional support from fathers, peers and healthcare professionals. Given the availability of formula milk in developed populations, an evolutionary anthropological perspective highlights that practical support, unlike emotional support, may have negative associations with breastfeeding by enabling substitution of maternal care. Other kin, mainly grandmothers, may also be important allomothers influencing maternal breastfeeding levels. Here we explore the associations between different types of social support mothers receive from fathers/grandmothers and breastfeeding in the UK Millennium Cohort Study. We find frequent grandmother contact and father's parenting involvement are both associated with lower levels of breastfeeding, suggesting a negative relationship between practical support and breastfeeding. In contrast, father presence, potentially capturing emotional support, is associated with greater breastfeeding initiation. Our findings suggest that practical support and emotional support functions differently, and practical support may not encourage breastfeeding in developed populations.