Synonyms
Definition
The provisioning of caregiving-related resources (e.g., money, time) from fathers to offspring that will influence the probability of offspring survival and reproductive success.
Introduction
Humans are among the very few mammals in which males invest in the well-being of their offspring. Substantive paternal care is only found in 5 % of mammals (Geary 2000). Human neonates are born exceptionally helpless in comparison to other primates and remain dependent on caregivers throughout a lengthy juvenile. The rearing of large brained children who experience long periods of dependency requires a significant commitment of resources from multiplecaregivers. An offspring’s prospect for survival is inextricably linked to the ability and willingness of mothers and fathers to provide critical resources throughout development. Ancestral fathers were recurrently confronted with tradeoffs in how to best allocate finite resources to their offspring. The...
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References
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Corpuz, R. (2016). Paternal Investment. In: Weekes-Shackelford, V., Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1906-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1906-1
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