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Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences pp 1–4Cite as

Belsky-Steinberg-Draper Hypothesis

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Synonyms

Psychosocial acceleration theory

Definition

Belsky, Steinberg, and Draper’s (1991; Belsky 2012) theory of the development of reproductive strategies – also known as “psychosocial acceleration theory” – stipulates that the degree to which children experience supportive vs. unsupportive care in their first 5–7 years of life influences their orientation toward others, the timing of their pubertal development (distinguishing fast vs. slow developers), their sexual behavior, the stability of their male-female relationships, the quality of their parenting, and the number of children they bear (i.e., their reproductive strategy), all in the service of dispersing their genes in future generations (i.e., reproductive fitness).

Introduction

Most theory and research concerned with how developmental experiences and environmental exposures influence human development, especially in the early years of life, are guided by a mental-health framework. This presumes that certain environmental...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA

    Jay Belsky

Authors
  1. Jay Belsky
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jay Belsky .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Virgil Zeigler-Hill

  2. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA

    Glenn Scheyd

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Belsky, J. (2018). Belsky-Steinberg-Draper Hypothesis. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1612-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1612-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

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