Abstract
Parenting – the effort required to bring one human child to maturity – can be one of the greatest joys in our lives. But for many parents, raising a child also brings along new stresses (Cohen, Kessler, & Gordon, 1997). For parents struggling with psychological problems such as depression or anxiety, or raising children with developmental or emotional difficulties, the stress of parenting is even higher (Deater-Deckard, 1998). The seeming ubiquity of parenting stress has led us to wonder whether there might be an evolutionary basis for parenting stress. To paraphrase evolutionary anthropologist Sarah Hrdy, do we have an “evolutionary right” to our parenting stress (Hrdy, 1999)? In other words, can an evolutionary perspective on parenting help us to understand the stresses which modern parents face? And how can mindfulness help with this?
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
Sarah Hrdy uses this expression to describe infant’s evolutionary right to want to sleep near its parents, not to describe parental stress. We have borrowed her expression and applied it to parenting because we find parents respond well to the phrase.
References
Bailey, K. G., & Wood, H. E. (1998). Evolutionary kinship therapy: Basic principles and treatment implications. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 71, 509–523.
Belsky, J. (1999). Interactional and contextual determinants of attachment security. In J. S. P. R. Cassidy (Ed.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications. New York: Guilford.
Bögels, S. M., & Perotti, E. C. (2011). Do fathers know best? A formal model of the paternal influence on childhood social anxiety. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 20, 171–182.
Bögels, S. M., & Phares, V. (2008). Fathers’ role in the etiology, prevention and treatment of child anxiety: A review and new model. Clinical Psychology Review, 28, 539–528.
Bowlby, J. (1971). Attachment and loss, vol. 1: Attachment. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
Bowlby, J. (1977). The making and breaking of affectional bonds I. Aetiology and psychopathology in the light of attachment theory. British Journal of Psychiatry, 130, 201–210.
Bretherton, I. (1992). The origins of attachment theory: John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth. Development Psychology, 28(5), 759–775.
Carter, S. (1998). Neuroendorcine perspectives on social attachment and love. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 23(8), 779–818.
Chang, J. J., Halpern, C. T., & Kaufman, J. S. (2007). Maternal depressive symptoms, father’s involvement, and the trajectories of child problem behaviors in a US national sample. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent, 161(7), 697–703.
Cohen, S., Kessler, R. C., & Gordon, L. U. (Eds.). (1997). Measuring stress: a guide for health and social scientists. New York: Oxford University Press.
Davidson, R. J., & Begley, S. (2012). The emotional life of your brain. New York: Hudson Street Press.
Davidson, R. J., Kabat-Zinn, J., Schumacher, J., Rosenkranz, M., Muller, D., Santorelli, S. F., et al. (2003). Alterations in brain and immune function produced by mindfulness meditation. Psychosomatic Medicine, 65, 564–570.
Deater-Deckard, K. (1998). Parenting stress and child adjustment: Some old hypotheses and new questions. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 5, 314–32.
Egeland, B., Jacobvitz, D., & Sroufe, L. A. (1988). Breaking the cycle of abuse. Child Development, 59, 1080–1088.
Gilbert, P. (2009). The compassionate mind. A new approach to life’s challenges. London: Constable and Robinson.
Goetz, J. L., Keltner, D., & Simon-Thomas, E. (2010). Compassion: An evolutionary analysis and empirical review. Psychological Bulletin, 136(3), 351–374.
Hawkes, K., O’Connell, J. F., & Blurton Jones, N. G. (1989). Hardworking Hadza grandmothers. In V. Standen & R. A. Foley (Eds.), Comparative sociology: The behavioral ecology of humans and other mammals. London: Basil Blackwell.
Hawkes, K., O’Connell, J. F., Blurton Jones, N. G., Alvarez, H., & Charnov, E. L. (1998). Grandmothering, menopause, and the evolution of human life histories. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 95, 1336–1339.
Hewlett, B. S. (2004). Fathers in forager, farmer and pastoral cultures. In M. Lamb (Ed.), The role of the father in child development (4th ed.). New York: Wiley.
Hrdy, S. B. (1999). Mother nature. Maternal instincts and how they shape the human species. New York: Ballantine Books.
Hrdy, S. B. (2009). Mothers and others. The evolutionary origins of mutual understanding. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Konner, M. (2010). The evolution of childhood: Relationships, emotion, mind. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Lamb, M. E., & Tamis-Lemonda, C. S. (2004). The role of the father: An introduction. In M. E. Lamb (Ed.), The role of the father in child development (4th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
LeDoux, J. (1996). The emotional brain: The mysterious underpinnings of emotional life. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Marlowe, F. (2000). Paternal investment and the human mating system. Behavioural processes, 51, 45–61.
Möller, E., Majdandzic, M., de Vente, W., & Bögels, S. M. The evolutionary basis of sex differences in parenting and its relationship with child anxiety in Western societies. Journal of Experimental Psychopathology, in press.
Neff, K. (2011). Self-compassion. New York: William Morrow.
NICHD Early Child Care Research Network. (2003). Early child care and mother-child interaction from 36 months through first grade. Infant Behavior and Development, 26, 345–370.
Paquette, D. (2004). Theorizing the father-child relationship: Mechanisms and developmental outcomes. Human Development, 47, 193–219.
Siegel, D. J., & Hartzell, M. (2003). Parenting from the inside out. New York: Penguin.
Smyke, A. T., Zeanah, C. H., Fox, N. A., Nelson, C. A., & Guthrie, D. (2010). Placement in foster care enhances quality of attachment among young institutionalized children. Child Development, 81(1), 212–223.
Sroufe, L. A., Carlson, E. A., Levy, A. K., & Egeland, B. (1999). Implications of attachment theory for developmental psychopathology. Development & Psychopathology, 11(1), 1–13.
Stams, G. J. M., Juffer, F., & van IJzendoorn, M. H. (2002). Maternal sensitivity, infant attachment, and temperament in early childhood predict adjustment in middle childhood: The case of adopted children and their biologically unrelated parents. Developmental Psychology, 38, 806–821.
Tomasello, M. (2008). Origins of human communication. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Van IJzendoorn, M. H. (1995). Adult attachment representations, parental responsiveness, and infant attachment: A meta-analysis on the predictive validity of the adult attachment interview. Psychological Bulletin, 117, 387–403.
Van Ijzendoorn, M., Sagi, A., & Lambermon, M. (1992). The multiple caretaker paradox: Data from Holland and Israel. In R. C. Pianta (ed), Beyond the parents: The role of other adults in children’s lives (pp. 5–24). New Directions for Child Development 57. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Zahn-Waxler, C., Radke-Yarrow, M., Wagner, E., & Chapman, M. (1992). Development of concern for others. Developmental Psychology, 28, 126–136.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bögels, S., Restifo, K. (2014). An Evolutionary Perspective on Parenting and Parenting Stress. In: Mindful Parenting. Mindfulness in Behavioral Health. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7406-7_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7406-7_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-7405-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-7406-7
eBook Packages: Behavioral ScienceBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)