European Human Behaviour & Evolution Association (EHBEA) Conference

Luisa and Emily attended the European Human Behaviour & Evolution Association (EHBEA) conference in Leiden, The Netherlands.

Luisa presented a talk titled 'Cooperative Childrearing in Middle Childhood and Adolescent Wellbeing: Initial Results from an ALSPAC Study' with findings from the Cooperative Childrearing study using data from the ALSPAC birth cohort (n ~5,000).

Using Gaussian mixture modelling, the study identified 8 distinct caregiving network types among 8-year-old children, defined by the combination of carer types present beyond the biological mother. Fathers and grandparents were by far the most common supplementary caregivers. Cluster membership was associated with family income, maternal education, and other sociodemographic factors. Preliminary analysis suggests that children in two of the eight clusters showed greater resilience to psychosocial stress in adolescence, as measured by SDQ scores, even after accounting for adversity exposure.

For more information on these findings get in touch at anthro.childrearing@ucl.ac.uk