Family matters: kin, demography and child health in a rural Gambian population

Sear, R.; Mace, R.

Family matters: kin, demography and child health in a rural Gambian population

Sear, R.; Mace, R.

Authors

R. Sear

R. Mace

Contributors

G.R. Bentley
Editor

R. Mace
Editor

Abstract

In this study, we focus on a traditional society, and assume inclusive fitness arguments largely provide an explanation for allocare. Hamilton's rule states that help will be provided to recipients by their relatives, provided that the costs of helping are less than the benefits to the recipient, discounted by the degree of relatedness between recipient and donor: rb>c where r represents the coefficient of relatedness (the probability that any gene will be shared by recipient and donor), b the benefits of helping and c the costs. For allocare to become common between a given set of relatives, the benefits of allocare (b) must be relatively high, the costs (c) relatively low, or both.

Citation

Sear, R., & Mace, R. (2009). Family matters: kin, demography and child health in a rural Gambian population. In G. Bentley, & R. Mace (Eds.), Substitute parents : biological and social perspectives on alloparenting in human societies (50-76). Berghahn Journals

Publication Date	Sep 1, 2009
Deposit Date	Oct 28, 2010
Publisher	Berghahn Journals
Pages	50-76
Series Title	Studies of the Biosocial Society
Book Title	Substitute parents : biological and social perspectives on alloparenting in human societies.
Publisher URL	http://www.berghahnbooks.com/title.php?rowtag=BentleySubstitute
Additional Information	Studies of the Biosocial Society ; 3.