Sex, attachment, and the development of reproductive strategies

AbstractThis target article presents an integrated evolutionary model of the development of attachment and human reproductive strategies. It is argued that sex differences in attachment emerge in middle childhood, have adaptive significance in both children and adults, and are part of sex-specific life history strategies. Early psychosocial stress and insecure attachment act as cues of environmental risk, and tend to switch development towards reproductive strategies favoring current reproduction and higher mating effort. However, due to sex differences in life history trade-offs between mating and parenting, insecure males tend to adopt avoidant strategies, whereas insecure females tend to adopt anxious/ambivalent strategies, which maximize investment from kin and mates. Females are expected to shift to avoidant patterns when environmental risk is more severe. Avoidant and ambivalent attachment patterns also have different adaptive values for boys and girls, in the context of same-sex competition in the peer group: in particular, the competitive and aggressive traits related to avoidant attachment can be favored as a status-seeking strategy for males. Finally, adrenarche is proposed as the endocrine mechanism underlying the reorganization of attachment in middle childhood, and the implications for the relationship between attachment and sexual development are explored. Sex differences in the development of attachment can be fruitfully integrated within the broader framework of adaptive plasticity in life history strategies, thus contributing to a coherent evolutionary theory of human development.

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Cuckoos, cowbirds and hosts: adaptations, trade-offs and constraints

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.2006.1849 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 362 (1486) ◽

pp. 1873-1886 ◽

Cited By ~ 93

Author(s):

Oliver Krüger

Keyword(s):

Life History ◽

Brood Parasitism ◽

Reproductive Strategies ◽

Life History Theory ◽

Model Systems ◽

Life History Strategies ◽

Host System ◽

Brood Parasites ◽

Trade Offs ◽

Evolution Of Life

The interactions between brood parasitic birds and their host species provide one of the best model systems for coevolution. Despite being intensively studied, the parasite–host system provides ample opportunities to test new predictions from both coevolutionary theory as well as life-history theory in general. I identify four main areas that might be especially fruitful: cuckoo female gentes as alternative reproductive strategies, non-random and nonlinear risks of brood parasitism for host individuals, host parental quality and targeted brood parasitism, and differences and similarities between predation risk and parasitism risk. Rather than being a rare and intriguing system to study coevolutionary processes, I believe that avian brood parasites and their hosts are much more important as extreme cases in the evolution of life-history strategies. They provide unique examples of trade-offs and situations where constraints are either completely removed or particularly severe.

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Disorganized attachment and reproductive strategies

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x0900017x ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 32 (1) ◽

pp. 35-36 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Andrew J. Lewis ◽

Gregory Tooley

Keyword(s):

Sex Differences ◽

Life History ◽

Middle Childhood ◽

Parental Investment ◽

Reproductive Strategies ◽

Life History Theory ◽

Disorganized Attachment ◽

Attachment Patterns ◽

Investment Theory ◽

Parental Investment Theory

AbstractDel Giudice provides an extension of the life history theory of attachment that incorporates emerging data suggestive of sex differences in avoidant male and preoccupied female attachment patterns emerging in middle childhood. This commentary considers the place of disorganized attachment within this theory and why male children may be more prone to disorganized attachment by drawing on Trivers's parental investment theory.

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Attachment, reproduction, and life history trade-offs: A broader view of human mating

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x09000041 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 32 (1) ◽

pp. 23-24 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Lane Beckes ◽

Jeffry A. Simpson

Keyword(s):

Life History ◽

Reproductive Strategies ◽

Evolutionary Model ◽

Trade Offs ◽

Human Mating ◽

Different Sources

AbstractIn this commentary, we attempt to broaden thinking and dialogue about how our ancestral past might have affected attachment and reproductive strategies. We highlight the theoretical benefits of formulating specific predictions of how different sources of stress might impact attachment and reproductive strategies differently, and we integrate some of these ideas with another recent evolutionary model of human mating.

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Attachment patterns of homeless youth: Choices of stress and confusion

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x09000144 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 32 (1) ◽

pp. 32-33

Author(s):

Min Ju Kang ◽

Michael Glassman

Keyword(s):

Sex Differences ◽

Life History ◽

High Risk ◽

Risk Behaviors ◽

Reproductive Strategies ◽

Homeless Youth ◽

Evolutionary Model ◽

High Risk Behaviors ◽

Attachment Patterns ◽

Youth Population

AbstractThis commentary explores the reproductive strategies and attachment patterns among homeless youths. Del Giudice's integrated evolutionary model is applied to a homeless youth population that must function in ecological settings of constant high risk and stress. Different reproductive needs result in different patterns of high-risk behaviors. Intervention considering the sex differences, life history, and early caregiver–child relationships is suggested.

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Seasonally contrasting life-history strategies in the land snail Cornu aspersum: physiological and ecological implications

Canadian Journal of Zoology ◽

10.1139/z10-066 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 88 (10) ◽

pp. 995-1002 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

A. Nicolai ◽

J. Filser ◽

V. Briand ◽

M. Charrier

Keyword(s):

Life History ◽

Reproductive Success ◽

Reproductive Strategies ◽

Energy Content ◽

Reproductive Traits ◽

Land Snails ◽

Life History Strategies ◽

Hatching Rate ◽

Trade Offs ◽

Cornu Aspersum

When a life history is characterized by both seasonality in reproduction and seasonality in offspring fitness, trade-offs in reproductive traits might be adjustments to seasonal time constraints to optimize reproductive success. Therefore, we compared in the laboratory the trade-offs in reproductive traits between early (after maturity) and delayed (after dormancy) reproduction in young land snails Cornu aspersum (Müller, 1774) (syn. Helix aspersa ), depending on food energy content. We also investigated the maternal investment in reproductive output in both breeding periods. After attaining maturity, snails produced single clutches with many small eggs, which resulted, in contrast to previous studies, in large offspring with a low hatching rate owing to high within-clutch cannibalism. The young cannibals may have a higher survival probability in the following hibernation. Snails starting to reproduce after hibernation had smaller clutches of larger eggs, resulting in high quantity of lighter offspring. The clutch mass was positively correlated with maternal mass in snails reproducing after having attained maturity and negatively correlated in snails reproducing after hibernation. Multiple oviposition occurred only after hibernation, thereby enhancing reproductive success. An energy-rich diet did not affect reproductive strategies. Further studies should focus on seasonal plasticity of reproductive strategies in natural populations of C. aspersum and investigate survival probabilities of breeders and juveniles in an evolutionary context.

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Bioarchaeological evidence for adaptive plasticity and constraint: Exploring life-history trade-offs in the human past

Evolutionary Anthropology Issues News and Reviews ◽

10.1002/evan.21754 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 28 (1) ◽

pp. 34-46 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Daniel H. Temple

Keyword(s):

Life History ◽

Adaptive Plasticity ◽

Trade Offs

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Alternative reproductive strategies in white-throated sparrows are associated with differences in parasite load following experimental infection

Biology Letters ◽

10.1098/rsbl.2018.0194 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 14 (7) ◽

pp. 20180194 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

R. J. Boyd ◽

T. R. Kelly ◽

S. A. MacDougall-Shackleton ◽

E. A. MacDougall-Shackleton

Keyword(s):

Sex Differences ◽

Life History ◽

Optimal Allocation ◽

Parasite Load ◽

Life History Strategies ◽

Zonotrichia Albicollis ◽

Load Following ◽

Infection Susceptibility ◽

Immune Defences ◽

Androgen Levels

Immune defences often trade off with other life-history components. Within species, optimal allocation to immunity may differ between the sexes or between alternative life-history strategies. White-throated sparrows ( Zonotrichia albicollis ) are unusual in having two discrete plumage morphs, white-striped and tan-striped. Within each sex, white-striped individuals are more aggressive and provide less parental care than tan-striped individuals. We extended immunocompetence handicap models, which predict sex differences in immunity and parasitism, to hypothesize that infection susceptibility should be greater in white-striped than tan-striped birds. We inoculated birds of both morphs with malarial parasites. Contrary to our prediction, among birds that became infected, parasite loads were higher in tan-striped than white-striped individuals and did not differ between the sexes. Circulating androgen levels did not differ between morphs but were higher in males than females. Our findings are not consistent with androgen-mediated immunosuppression. Instead, morph differences in immunity could reflect social interactions or life-history-related differences in risk of injury, and/or genetic factors. Although plumage and behavioural morphs of white-throated sparrow may differ in disease resistance, these differences do not parallel sex differences that have been reported in animals, and do not appear to be mediated by differences in androgen levels.

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The Evolutionary Life History Model of Externalizing Personality: Bridging Human and Animal Personality Science to Connect Ultimate and Proximate Mechanisms Underlying Aggressive Dominance, Hostility, and Impulsive Sensation Seeking

Review of General Psychology ◽

10.1037/gpr0000127 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 21 (4) ◽

pp. 330-353 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Michael P. Hengartner

Keyword(s):

Life History ◽

Stress Response ◽

Sensation Seeking ◽

Inclusive Fitness ◽

Interpersonal Behavior ◽

Life History Strategies ◽

Proximate Mechanisms ◽

Response System ◽

Trade Offs ◽

Stress Response System

The present work proposes an evolutionary model of externalizing personality that defines variation in this broad psychobiological phenotype resulting from genetic influences and a conditional adaptation to high-risk environments with high extrinsic morbidity-mortality. Due to shared selection pressure, externalizing personality is coadapted to fast life history strategies and maximizes inclusive fitness under adverse environmental conditions by governing the major trade-offs between reproductive versus somatic functions, current versus future reproduction, and mating versus parenting efforts. According to this model, externalizing personality is a regulatory device at the interface between the individual and its environment that is mediated by 2 overlapping psychobiological systems, that is, the attachment and the stress-response system. The attachment system coordinates interpersonal behavior and intimacy in close relationships and the stress-response system regulates the responsivity to environmental challenge and both physiological and behavioral reactions to stress. These proximate mechanisms allow for the integration of neuroendocrinological processes underlying interindividual differences in externalizing personality. Hereinafter I further discuss the model's major implications for personality psychology, psychiatry, and public health policy.

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Developmental transformations in attachment in middle childhood

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x09000156 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 32 (1) ◽

pp. 33-34 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Kathryn A. Kerns

Keyword(s):

Sex Differences ◽

Social Context ◽

Middle Childhood ◽

Reproductive Strategies ◽

Biological Factors ◽

Fundamental Nature ◽

Target Article ◽

The Social ◽

Developmental Transformations

AbstractThe target article proposes a model to explain the emergence of sex differences in attachment in middle childhood and their implications for reproductive strategies. While biological factors are prominent in the model, little is said about the social context of middle childhood and its contributions. There is also a need to clarify the fundamental nature of attachment in middle childhood.

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