A Biosocial Perspective on Paternal Behavior and Involvement

This chapter focuses on proximate explanations —usually in terms of psychological or sociological factors —without regard for ultimate factors which may, when viewed in the context of ecological characteristics and various proximate factors, and provides a broader and more satisfying answer to questions about paternal behavior in humans. It also focuses on the factors affecting degree of paternal involvement, beginning with factors accounting for sex differences between men and women and proceeding to factors accounting for individual differences among men. As in most of the great debates in psychology, popular and scientific discussions of sex differences in parental behavior frequently degenerate into debates between simplistic environmental determinism and simplistic biological determinism, neither of which proves very helpful in understanding the phenomenon. Procreation must surely rank as one of the major activities involved in the attainment of inclusive fitness; it constitutes one of the most basic elements of fatherhood.