Environmental risks, life history strategy, and developmental psychology

Abstract

In recent decades, life history theory (LHT) has provided an important theoretical framework for understanding human individual differences and their developmental processes. The conceptual complexity and multidisciplinary connections involved in the LH research, however, might appear daunting to psychologists whose research might otherwise benefit from the LH perspective. The main purpose of this review, therefore, is to introduce the evolutionary biological backgrounds and basic principles of LHT as well as their applications in developmental psychology. This review is organized into five parts, starting with an overview of key concepts in LHT, which clarifies the relationship among LH strategy, LH‐related traits, and the fast–slow paradigm of LH variation. We proceed to review theoretical and empirical work related to four basic LH trade‐offs, summarized by an integrated descriptive model of LH trade‐offs that shape different LH strategies in humans. We then explain the effects of four aspects of environmental risks (morbidity‐mortality threats, competition, resource scarcity, and unpredictability) on human LH strategy. This is followed by a discussion of LH calibration models in evolutionary developmental psychology that explicates the environmentally sensitive developmental processes that contribute to variation and plasticity in LH‐related traits and ultimately human LH strategies. Finally, we highlight a few outstanding questions and future directions for LH research in psychology and conclude with why we think it is important that developmental psychology should embrace the LH approach.

Mediating roles of perceived social support and sense of security in the relationship between negative life events and life satisfaction among left-behind children: A cross-sectional study

“…Negative life events, as a key part of the latent construct of "uncertainty and unpredictability" were also linked to a "slow" life-history profile, which include relationship with parents and other social support and contact (Chang et al, 2019). Early experiences of negative life events might contribute to the ongoing "calibration" of "life-history strategy" in children and adolescents, affecting a range of psychological variables, including social investment in relationships with family and friends (Yang et al, 2022). These psychological strategies or "life-history profile" would have repercussions (e.g., estranged family and friends), which, in turn, contribute to an insecure, unpredictable schema of the world (Cabeza de Baca et al, 2016).…”

Why do parents employ helicopter parenting in the post‐COVID‐19 era? An actor‐partner interdependence mediation model

“…This trade‐off is subject to environmental unpredictability. Some of the evolutionary psychological literature claims that environmental unpredictability increases the risk that children will fail to inherit genes, resulting in parents' greater focus on mating efforts than parenting efforts (Szepsenwol, 2020; Szepsenwol et al, 2021; Yang et al, 2022). Notably, this does not apply to all unpredictable environmental conditions.…”