Culture, history, and sex: Anthropological contributions to conceptualizing father involvement

This paper provides a brief overview of anthropological approaches and stud ies of father involvement with the hopes of providing insights into how fat her involvement is conceptualized in the United States. The paper reviews f our topics: (1) how our culture shapes how we feel about father-child relat ions; (2) factors cross-cultural studies have identified as being associate d with high levels of father involvement; (3) the different roles of father s during the past 120,000 years of human history; and (4) how biology and m ale reproductive interest influence father involvement.