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

Abstract

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’.

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

“…Nonetheless, regardless of the evolutionary origins, postnatal depressive symptoms are undoubtedly an indicator of distress and if relatives were most likely to come to a mother’s aid, inclusive fitness would explain why. Needs-based kin altruism in the context of reproduction and childrearing has been reported elsewhere ( Schaffnit and Sear, 2017 ; Page et al,2019a,b ), and our findings may suggest that a limited number of family members “took the risk” to provide practical support for mothers.…”

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

“…Many authors in this issue, us included, highlight the importance of non-maternal caregivers and extended social support across cultures. This includes fathers [13,23,44,49,57], grandmothers and other relatives [13,16,17,23,43,49], as well as non-kin in both informal and formal settings [16,18,23,31,58]. Second, we primarily focus on the individual-level and specific acts of support rather than wider supportive environments.…”

“…With this focus, we present commentaries and research papers on: understanding the need for mother-infant support [15,58]; supporting pregnancy and childbirth [31,40,57]; supporting maternal mental health [14,41,42]; supporting maternal physical health [16,17,43]; supporting infant feeding [13,49] and supporting child survival and development [18,23,44]. These topics bring together diverse literature on multiple elements of social support and maternal-child health, moving past a primary focus on child outcomes.…”

“…Much of what is felt or believed to be 'normal' among researchers, practitioners and policy makers in the West may in fact be comparatively unusual. As Sear and others highlight in this issue [15][16][17][18], the human childrearing system evolved to be cooperative, where mothers and children require extensive support from others [19][20][21][22]. It is only in relatively recent history that nuclear family norms became so widespread [15] and, cross-culturally, childrearing is still widely shared where mothers and children are supported by a diverse range of individuals [16,17,[19][20][21]23].…”

“…While our theme issue is by no means comprehensive, it presents work from scholars with backgrounds in public health, midwifery, psychology, human biology, demography and evolutionary anthropology, to name a few. The research in this issue also spans cultures and communities, with research participants from the UK [13,31], Japan [23], Australia [41], the Thai-Myanmar border [42], Bangladesh [43], BaYaka foragers from the Congo Basin [44], Agta foragers from the Philippines [16], and more. We hope this issue provides an example of facilitating broader discussions, drawing on multiple perspectives.…”