Stressful family environment, mortality, and child socialisation: Life-history strategies among adolescents and adults from unfavourable social circumstances

This study, based on questionnaires given to 732 subjects, uses an integrat ive approach with a focus on evolutionary (life-history) explanations. In a ccordance with Belsky, Steinberg, and Draper's theoretical model of sociali sation (1991), we claim that experiences during childhood trigger variation s in the life cycle and shift developmental trajectories as adaptive answer s to different environmental conditions. Unfavourable family conditions con stitute an unpredictable and unstable environment that make children suscep tible to adopting opportunistic mating strategies rather than parenting str ategies. Based on Chisholm's statement (1993) that high stress in the famil y provides cues for local death rates, we argue that mortality rates may ha ve a significant effect on reproductive decisions, even in post-industrial societies. We report that length of schooling, date of the first marriage, and fertility were associated with the subjects' family conditions, such as parental affirmation, emotional atmosphere, parent-subject conflicts, and parental relations. Women growing up in unfavourable family circumstances f inish schooling and marry earlier, and this shift in developmental trajecto ry is likely to lead to the higher number of children measured among these women. Men, on the other hand, do not show such a difference in reproductiv e output, which may be due to their increased involvement in sexual competi tion. Remarkably, significant correlation has been found between life-histo ry strategy and mortality rates; those coming from unfavourable environment s have more deceased sisters and brothers than others. It is possible that individual differences in mating and parenting behaviour are still continge nt, among others, on local death rates.