Fatherhood: Evolution and Human Paternal Behavior

Description

We've all heard that a father's involvement enriches the lives of children. But how much have we heard about how having a child affects a father's life? As Peter Gray and Kermyt Anderson reveal, fatherhood actually alters a man's sexuality, rewires his brain, and changes his hormonal profile. His very health may suffer - in the short run - and improve in the long. These are just a few aspects of the scientific side of fatherhood explored in this book, which deciphers the findings of myriad studies and makes them accessible to the interested general reader. Since the mid-1990s Anderson and Gray, themselves fathers of young children, have been studying paternal behavior in places as diverse as Boston, Albuquerque, Cape Town, Kenya, and Jamaica. Their work combines the insights of evolutionary and comparative biology, cross-cultural analysis, and neural physiology to deepen and expand our understanding of fatherhood - from the intense involvement in childcare seen in male hunter-gatherers, to the prodigality of a Genghis Khan leaving millions of descendants, to the anonymous sperm donor in a fertility clinic. Looking at every kind of fatherhood - being a father in and out of marriage, fathering from a distance, stepfathering, and parenting by gay males - this book presents a uniquely detailed picture of how being a parent fits with men's broader social and work lives, how fatherhood evolved, and how it differs across cultures and through time. Cover Title Copyright Dedication Contents Preface Introduction Chapter 1: Our Founding Fathers Chapter 2: A World of Diversity: Cross-Cultural Variation in Paternal Care Chapter 3: Men and Marriage Chapter 4: Fathers and Fertility Chapter 5: Who’s the Dad? Chapter 6: Father Involvement, Father Absence, and Children’s Outcomes Chapter 7: The Makings of a Stepfather Chapter 8: Having It All? Fatherhood, Male Social Relationships, and Work Chapter 9: The Descent of Dad’s Sexuality Chapter 10: Babies on His Brain Chapter 11: Health and the Human Father Chapter 12: Rewriting the Manual Appendix References Acknowledgments Index