Parenting and Environmental Risk An Examination of Child Loss and Maternal Involvement among Bofi Foragers in Central Africa

• Published in: Human nature (Hawthorne, N.Y.) Vol. 26; no. 1; pp. 73 - 88
• Main Authors: Fouts, Hillary N., Silverman, Lisa S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01-03-2015; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Anthropology; Behavioral Sciences; Biological Psychology; Central African Republic; Child, Preschool; Children & youth; Cultural values; Culture; Death & dying; Environment; Environmental risk; Female; Grief; Humans; Infant; Maternal Behavior - ethnology; Maternal Behavior - psychology; Mother-Child Relations - ethnology; Mother-Child Relations - psychology; Mothers; Mothers - psychology; Parenting; Parenting - ethnology; Parenting - psychology; Parents & parenting; Risk; Social Sciences; Biocultural perspective; Foragers; Maternal involvement; Child loss; Environmental risk; Parenting strategies
• ISSN: 1045-6767; 1936-4776
• DOI: 10.1007/s12110-015-9221-z

The majority of adaptationist models and research related to parenting strategies have focused on extrinsic or population-level risk as predictors of parenting. However, some researchers have called for greater consideration of cultural factors as well as on intracultural variation in parenting. This study uses a biocultural approach to examine intracultural variation in environmental risk and parenting among the Bofi foragers in Central Africa. In particular, we examine 30 mothers’ experiences of child loss as a predictor of variation in maternal involvement (proximity, holding, and affection) with their young children. Multivariate and univariate analyses indicate that child loss accounted for substantial variation in maternal behaviors and was predictive of maternal holding and the expression of physical affection. In sum, our findings indicate that intracultural variation in child loss is predictive of maternal involvement with young children and that a biocultural approach is useful in explaining this variation.