Definition
Grandparental investment can be defined as all actions that may increase grandchildren’s fitness at any opportunity cost to grandparents’ own fitness. Grandparental investment includes conscious and unconscious investments grandparents channel toward their grandchildren. Grandparents can invest in their grandchildren either directly or indirectly via a third party (mostly via grandchildren’s parents). Grandparental investments include, for instance, contacts with grandchildren, care, financial help, emotional support, and practical help. Evolutionary importance of grandparental investment refers to fitness benefits that grandparents may gain by providing support to their offspring. By investing in their grandchildren, grandparents can increase their own inclusive fitness (i.e., spreading their genes in future generations) by two important ways. First, by investing in their offspring,...
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Tanskanen, A.O., Danielsbacka, M. (2016). Importance of Grandparental 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_1500-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1500-1
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