Abstract
Extrinsic mortality risks calibrating fast life history (LH) represent a species-general principle that applies to almost all animals including humans. However, empirical research also finds exceptions to the LH principle. The present study proposes a maternal socialization hypothesis, whereby we argue that the more human-relevant attachment system adds to the LH principle by up- and down-regulating environmental harshness and unpredictability and their calibration of LH strategies. Based on a longitudinal sample of 259 rural Chinese adolescents and their primary caregivers, the results support the statistical moderating effect of caregiver-child attachment on the relation between childhood environmental adversities (harshness and unpredictability) and LH strategies. Our theorizing and findings point to an additional mechanism likely involved in the organization and possibly the slowdown of human LH.
Highlights
Derived in biology from between-species, higher taxonomic observations, life history (LH) theory has been successfully used in developmental psychology to explain individual variations in development and behavior
Putting all these otherwise disparate observations together, it appears that human LH may not have followed the species-general principle uniformly in adapting to harsh and unpredictable living environments, and secure attachment may provide an additional adaptation to environmental adversities
As we theorize subsequently, when the two forces work in different directions, the attachment system should alleviate but may aggravate ecological adversities and should attenuate but may strengthen the contingent association of environmental harshness and unpredictability to fast LH
Summary
Derived in biology from between-species, higher taxonomic observations, life history (LH) theory has been successfully used in developmental psychology to explain individual variations in development and behavior. Other bipolar behavioral traits include risk taking vs risk averting, impulsivity and emotionality vs planning, insight, and control, and an affiliative and altruistic sociality mindful of future cooperation, in contrast to an antagonistic and utilitarian social interactional style, aimed for immediate and self-focused survival goals (Chang et al, 2019; Figueredo et al, 2018) These fast and slow LH strategies are largely shaped by safety conditions of the organism’s living environment. The rate and variance at which extrinsic safety factors cause death and disability especially on the adult population are referred to as environmental harshness and unpredictability (Ellis et al, 2009) When these two dimensions are low as in a safe and controllable environment, the winning strategy is to maximize physical and mental development by acquiring energy and resources and accumulating knowledge and skills to enhance future resource-capturing and reproductive competitiveness. Environmental safety and stability ensure a predictable future, which, in turn, ensures that investments in one’s physical and mental capabilities will pay off
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