Prevalence and predictors of “nesting”: Solutions to adaptive challenges faced during pregnancy

Abstract

Throughout human evolutionary history, women have faced significant adaptive challenges during pregnancy. Natural selection may therefore have favored psychological mechanisms to help women prepare for birth and motherhood. Previous researchers have conceptualized such mechanisms as comprising a form of “nesting,” consisting of selectivity in one's social relationships and motivations to prepare a safe and clean environment, both of which may have been beneficial in the context of childbirth and childrearing. The current study aimed to replicate and extend previous evidence for nesting (Anderson & Rutherford, 2013). Consistent with prior work, results suggest that pregnant women ( n = 91) engaged in more nesting than non-pregnant women ( n = 102), and that degree of nesting increased across weeks of gestation. Among pregnant women, high levels of germ aversion and having relatively high socioeconomic status were both associated with heightened nesting. A number of other theoretically relevant variables (e.g., progesterone, oxidative stress, sociosexual orientation) displayed null associations with nesting. Findings strengthen support for the hypothesis that nesting is a pervasive phenomenon among pregnant women and provide new insight into predictors of nesting.