Vazquez Vazquez, Adriana del Pilar; (2020) Maternal social capital and child growth: Do grandmothers help? Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

Evolutionary life history theory assumes that the resources available to an organism in any environment are finite and that each organism has been selected to allocate those resources in ways that maximize reproductive fitness. In humans, high levels of parental investment are required to raise offspring, because of their large, costly brains. The costs borne by each individual mother may be mitigated by obtaining social support from other family members. Maternal grandmothers could be a particularly reliable source of support because of the high degree of genetic relatedness and since they represent a valuable source of knowledge and resources, and can release mothers from the 'energetic demands’ of childcare. This thesis tested the over-arching hypothesis that women with grandmothers’ support would have more favourable physiological and psychological characteristics that, in turn, would be associated with healthier growth patterns and lower levels of irritability in their children. To test this hypothesis, a cohort of 90 mother-infant dyads (52 with grandmothers’ support, 38 without) was recruited in Merida, Mexico. Children were first-borns and aged 1.7-2.3 years. Anthropometric and body composition data and behavioural and physiological markers of stress (salivary cortisol) in both mother and child were assessed. Additional data on maternal resilience and self-efficacy and infant temperament were obtained. In the whole population, mothers showed high levels of self-efficacy and resilience and perceived their children as having favourable temperament, suggesting that mothers with greater psychosocial capital have a positive impact on their child’s development. However, there were no differences between the groups in stress markers or nutritional status among mothers or infants. Notably, mothers without grandmaternal support benefitted from higher levels of support from other female family members. In conclusion, mothers can find different sources of social support for rearing their children, and those lacking a grandmother are not at a systematic disadvantage.

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