International Journal of Behavioral Development # 2001 The International Society for the

2001, 25 (6), 501–508 Study of Behavioural Development

http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/pp/01650254.html DOI: 10.1080/01650250042000573

Stressful family environment, mortality, and child

socialisation: Life-history strategies among adolescents
and adults from unfavourable social circumstances

Tamas Bereczkei and Andras Csanaky

Janus Pannonius University, Pe cs, Hungary

This study, based on questionnaires given to 732 subjects, uses an integrative approach with a focus
on evolutionary (life-history) explanations. In accordance with Belsky, Steinberg, and Draper’s
theoretical model of socialisation (1991), we claim that experiences during childhood trigger
variations in the life cycle and shift developmental trajectories as adaptive answers to different
environmental conditions. Unfavourable family conditions constitute an unpredictable and unstable
environment that make children susceptible to adopting opportunistic mating strategies rather than
parenting strategies. Based on Chisholm’s statement (1993) that high stress in the family provides
cues for local death rates, we argue that mortality rates may have a signiŽ cant effect on reproductive
decisions, even in post-industrial societies. We report that length of schooling, date of the Ž rst
marriage, and fertility were associated with the subjects’ family conditions, such as parental
afŽ rmation, emotional atmosphere, parent-subject con icts, and parental relations. Women growing
up in unfavourable family circumstances Ž nish schooling and marry earlier, and this shift in
developmental trajectory 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 reproductive output, which may
be due to their increased involvement in sexual competition. Remarkably, signiŽ cant correlation has
been found between life-history strategy and mortality rates; those coming from unfavourable
environments have more deceased sisters and brothers than others. It is possible that individual
differences in mating and parenting behaviour are still contingent, among others, on local death
rates.

Experiences in the family during early childhood have been
found to have an impact on later sexual and reproductive
behaviour. Many studies have revealed that rearing conditions
associated with the absence or presence of father correlate
with patterns of adolescent and adult lifestyles. Those raised
by mothers only show early sexuality and less interest in
developing long-term relationships with a mate, compared
with those raised by both parents (Bereczkei, 1993; Bereczkei
& Csanaky, 1996b; Hetherington, Kamara, & Featherman,
1983; Krein & Beller, 1988; Magnusson et al., 1986;
Matsueda & Heimer, 1987; McLanahan & Booth, 1989;
Rainwater, 1971). In a pioneering work, Draper and
Harpending (1982, 1987, 1988, see also: McDonald, 1988,
1992) argued that humans have been selected for innate
learning rules that guide behaviour during an early sensitive
period. Children adopt—not necessarily in a conscious way—
a reproductive style appropriate to the adult social environ-
ment in which they were born. Those growing up in father-
absent households learn that men are not expected to
contribute to parental care, and paternal investment could
be neglected in supporting a family. As adolescents and
adults, they shift to a behavioural strategy that involves less
stable and more transient pair-bonding, compared to father-
present children.
The Belsky et al. model
Following this approach, and using recent results of modern
evolutionary theory, Belsky, Steinberg, and Draper have
outlined a more comprehensive evolutionary theory of sociali-
sation (Belsky, 1997; Belsky et al., 1991; Draper & Belsky,
1990). In the light of evolutionary theory, individuals have
been selected for a capacity to adjust life histories in response
to environmental conditions, and variations in the life cycle are
considered as adaptive answers to different circumstances
(DeRousseau 1990; Smith & Winterhalder, 1992). Given a
limited set of resources, the behaviours that make individuals
successful in mating are often mutually exclusive of the
behaviours that result in successful parenting (Bereczkei,
1993; Chisholm, 1988, 1999; Daly & Wilson, 1983; Hill,
Ross, & Low, 1997; Low, 1993; MacDonald, 1997; Roff,
1992; Voland, 1998). In environments where relatively stable,
predictable resources prevail, individuals tend to have a set of
life-history traits—delayed maturation and low fertility, endur-
ing pair-bonding, high-investment parenting—that are critical
to rearing competitive and successful offspring. Individuals
living in more unstable and less predictable environments put
an emphasis on mating effort with high fertility, rapid
development, and low level of parental investment in order

Correspondence should be addressed to Dr Tamas Bereczkei,

University Medical School, PEÂ CS, Institute of Behavioural Sciences,
Szigeti U.12, H-7624 Pe cs, Hungary
502 BERECZKEI AND CSANAKY / STRESSFUL FAMILY ENVIRONMENT
to enhance the chance for some of their offspring to survive
during relatively favourable periods.
Belsky et al. argued that the availability of resources, the
stability of pair-bonds, and the trustworthiness of others during
early childhood will affect how developing individuals shape
their mating and parenting effort. Individuals who develop
insecure attachment with parents, experience opportunistic
relationships between family members, and who face scarce
resources and family stress, will reduce the age of biological
maturation, accelerate sexual maturation, and lead them to
short-term pair-bonds. Those, on the other hand, who have
more stable relationships with others and fewer con icts in the
family will show more stable pair-bonds and invest more in
child rearing.
Reviewing relevant studies in this Ž eld, Belsky et al. found
that most of the evidence was consistent with their theory.
Thus, young children exposed to emotional and Ž nancial
deprivation and to negative parenting practices have been
found to show earlier pubertal maturation, more noncompliant
and ‘‘problem’’ behaviour, earlier onset of sexual activity, and
more frequent marital dissolution than children coming from
secure, harmonious, and stable family households (Booth,
Brinkerhoff, & White, 1984; Howes & Eldredge, 1997;
Magnusson et al., 1986; Matsueda & Heimer, 1987; Shaver
& Hazan, 1993; Steinberg, 1988).
Pubertal timing
However, these behavioural differences between children
coming from favourable and unfavourable family environments
can also be explained by other, nonevolutionary theories.
According to certain psychological and sociological theories,
the particular relationships between children and parents in
certain family situations may themselves determine the
children’s later sexual behaviour. These behavioural tactics
can be interpreted in the frameworks of social learning
(Bandura, 1977), psychoanalysis (Whiting & Whiting, 1978),
and attachment (Bowlby, 1969), without referring to evolu-
tionary/ultimate causation. Therefore, an evolutionary expla-
nation may be redundant in relation to anthropological and
psychological explanations and thus not convincing in its own
right (Harris, 1979). Nevertheless, the evolutionary approach
must be retained if it can generate predictions and new
hypotheses that could not be made by the alternative theories
within social sciences (Bereczkei & Csanaky, 1996b; Gray,
1985).
Indeed, Belsky et al. have derived unique predictions
regarding pubertal timing from the evolutionary theory of
socialisation. They considered age of maturation as a critical
somatic link between early social experience and later
reproductive behaviour. Because children who experience
con ict and stress in their family environment undergo
pubertal maturation earlier, they may have more sexual liaisons
and additional reproductive prospects. It was predicted that
girls from such family households attain menarche at an earlier
age than their counterparts in intact homes. Indeed, some
studies have shown that higher levels of stress and con ict are
associated with earlier menarche (Kim, Smith, & Palermiti,
1997; MofŽ tt et al., 1992; Surbey, 1990; Wierson, Long, &
Forehand, 1993).
However, several authors claim that genetic inheritance,
and not alternative reproductive strategies, may account for the
association between family stress and early menarche (Camp-
bell & Udry, 1995; MofŽ tt et al., 1992). Surbey (1990) has
found that women who have sexually matured, married, and
had children at an early age are more likely to divorce and
produce father-absent daughters who experience high levels of
stress than do later maturing mothers. Because the timing of
menarche is moderately heritable, early puberty of mother and
reduced parental supervision may put such girls at risk for early
pregnancy. However, Chasiotis and his colleagues (Chasiotis,
Scheffer, Restemeier, & Keller, 1998) argued that a demon-
stration of heritability is not meaningful without controlling for
the relevant environmental variables of the parental genera-
tions. They found a lack of correlation between mother’s and
daughter’s age at menarche in an environment (former East
Germany) where intergenerational discontinuity of childhood
context variables prevailed. They interpreted this result as a
support of context-sensitive timing in the onset of puberty and
speculate that it is not the timing of puberty per se but the
sensitivity for the prepubertal childhood environment that is
inherited. Generally speaking, then, although many traits
related to sexual maturity and reproductive behaviour may be
genetically transmitted from parent to child, the speciŽ c
context of family must be taken into consideration when the
development of life-history traits is explained.
Mortality
Another particular prediction, derived from evolutionary
theory, focuses on a speciŽ c variable in the early environment
that is associated with both contextual variables of family
environment and pubertal timing and fertility. This variable is
local mortality rate, the impact of which on child development
does not seem to be explained by the recent nonevolutionary
socialisation theories. In their life-history model, Promislow
and Harvey (1990) stated that life-history traits and develop-
mental trajectories vary in accordance with local death rates. If
the chances of survival are good, a mother can afford to invest
heavily in a limited number of offspring with high competitive
ability. If survival is unpredictable or unlikely, a relatively large
number of offspring with low levels of parental investment
promotes a possibility of high Ž tness in good years but
minimises maternal losses in bad years.
Chisholm (1993) argues that children have been selected to
be sensitive for environmental cues associated with a high
probability of juvenile and adult death. High levels of stress in
the family, insensitive and rejecting child-rearing practices,
insecure attachment, and parental feelings of anger, fear, and
despair were likely to have been associated with high mortality
rates during a major part of human evolution. Facing these
cues (or index) of local mortality, humans have been selected
for adopting high mating-effort reproductive strategies. As a
consequence, early stress in the family today should be
associated with the development of early maturation, short-
term pair-bonds, and a low level of parental investment, even if
the difference in family background would not correlate with
differential mortality.
Although mortality and fertility rates have sharply decreased
in modern societies after the demographic transition, they may
still have an impact on genetic Ž tness. Some experts argue that
evolved psychological programmes are still in operation and
in uencing behaviour, but these capabilities are not necessarily
expected to increase the number of offspring in contemporary
(post-Pleistocene) societies. Consequently, they are not inter-
ested in searching for links between a particular type of
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL DEVELOPMENT, 2001, 25 (6), 501–508
behaviour and its possible reproductive consequences. This
also holds in the Ž eld of child socialisation; no attempt has
been made so far to study reproductive output of various child-
rearing practices.
However, the question whether differences in childhood
experiences and mortality are transformed to differences in
reproductive success remains strictly empirical. Given the basic
ecological assumptions, then, our predictions are the following:
Growing up in a family characterised by unpredictable family
resources, unstable parental bonds, family stress, and con icts,
adolescents and adults are expected to show:
(1) higher mortality rates,
(2) earlier termination of schooling,
(3) marriage at a younger age, and
(4) higher fertility (i.e., an increase in live-born infants),
compared to those growing up in more favourable family
conditions.
Method
The present study stems from a comprehensive investigation
carried out by our research centre (Institute of Behavioural
Sciences, Medical University of Pe cs) between 1988 and 1990.
The original survey aimed at assessing the current state of
health in Baranya County, southwest Hungary. It examined
demography, occupation, experiences during childhood, per-
sonal lifestyles, habits concerning health care, and many other
topics (Tahin, Jeges, & Csanaky, 1993). Questionnaires were
used to collect data on a total of 776 variables from 3777 adults
aged from 25 to 60 years old. Our sample was representative of
the larger population in terms of sex, education, occupation,
and settlement. Without using any kind of selection, a Ž nal
subset of 732 men and women aged between 45 and 54 (i.e.,
close to completed fertility) was created for the recent study.
Each of the participants was interviewed in person by a
collaborator who was not informed about the purpose of the
study. The subjects were asked about their lifestyles and life-
history traits during adolescence and adulthood. They reported
data about socioeconomic status, behavioural attitudes, educa-
tional levels attained, marital status, age at marriage, number
of children, etc. (Bereczkei & Csanaky, 1996b). The retro-
spective nature of our study enabled us to assess a wide range
of behavioural strategies, but it did not provide us with direct
data about pubertal timing such as age at menarche (see
Discussion).
Measures
The Ž rst part of our questionnaire was constructed to register
data on family composition of household members during
childhood until age 12, which is regarded as the end of the
prepubertal period. More than 30 items were used to measure
the subjects’ experiences about their relationship with parents
and the physical and emotional circumstances of the family.
The subjects were asked to rate themselves on each item which
were classiŽ ed in four subscales measuring:
1. Parental affection and care (eight items, 5-point scale
from 1 ˆ very bad to 5 ˆ very good, a ˆ .83): (e.g.,
503
‘‘Describe your parents’ attitude on the scale of terms
such as warm-cold/sensitive-rejective’’).
2. Emotional atmosphere of family (eight items, 5-point
scale from 1 ˆ very bad to 5 ˆ very good, a ˆ .91): (e.g.,
‘‘How did you feel in the family where you grew up?’’).
3. Parent-self con icts (eight items, 5-point scale from 1 ˆ
very frequently to 5 ˆ never, a ˆ .71): (e.g., ‘‘How often
were you severely punished by your parents?’’).
4. Parental marital relations (eight items, 5-point scale
from 1 ˆ not at all to 5 ˆ very well, a ˆ .74): (e.g.,
‘‘How did your parents get along with each other?’’).
Because the women and men in our sample were aged
between 45 and 54, the measured fertility rates was considered
as those signalling completed fertility. These rates refer to the
mean number of live births per subject. Both juvenile (until the
age of 18) and adult mortality was measured as the number of
deaths among the subjects’ sisters and brothers. Mortality rates
were calculated in percentages within both groups of children
from positive and negative family circumstances.
The sample values for fertility and mortality rates were not
normally distributed. Therefore, Mann–Whitney tests were
used to evaluate differences in these cases. Chi-square tests
were used to compare cross-tabulated data. Logistic multiple
regression analyses examined the effects of contextual child-
hood variables, mortality, and life events on fertility which were
transformed into dichotic variables for that purpose.
Results
Length of schooling. Almost four times as many children from
unfavourable family environments left school, for various
reasons, before completing the eighth grade, compared to
those from favourable environments (13.0% vs. 3.6%; x2 ˆ
19.43, p ˆ .001). Subjects—both men and women—who
reported a stressful family atmosphere during childhood
terminated school at a younger age than those who reported
a happy and secure family atmosphere (F ˆ 14.03, df ˆ 2, 729,
p .001). Similarly, the lack of affection they experienced as
children, and unhappy relationships between them and their
parents were associated with fewer completed years of school-
ing by the age of 25 (parental affection: F ˆ 17.46; parent-self
con ict: F ˆ 4.39, df ˆ 2, 729, p ˆ .001) (Figure 1).
Date of Ž rst marriage. Those children who reported an
unstressful family atmosphere during childhood, and whose
parents shared more positive affection toward them, married at
an older age. Conversely, children coming from families
characterised by a rejective parental attitude, high stress, and
disagreements between parents had the Ž rst marriage earlier
(parental afŽ rmation: F ˆ 3.53, p ˆ .05; family atmosphere: F
ˆ 3.19, df ˆ 2, 715, p ˆ .013; parental relations: F ˆ 4.46, p ˆ
.001). When, however, sexes were separately assessed, it
turned out that childhood experiences do not have an impact
on the males’ age at their Ž rst marriage. Only the females
showed signiŽ cant differences in the age of Ž rst marriage as a
function of the family environment during childhood (parental
affection: F ˆ 4.23, p ˆ .015; family atmosphere: 4.24, p ˆ
.015; parental relations: F ˆ 5.56, df ˆ 2, 354, p ˆ .001).
(Figure 2).
504 BERECZKEI AND CSANAKY / STRESSFUL FAMILY ENVIRONMENT

Figure 1. School years completed in groups of individuals with various family background during childhood.

Figure 2. Date of the first marriage as a function of family background during childhood.

Fertility. Reproductive differences have been found among
women but not among men in terms of family conditions
during childhood. Those women who grew up in unfavourable
environments gave birth to more children than those growing
up in more favourable households. The less love and parental
affection they received during childhood, the more children
they had as adults (Mann–Whitney ˆ 2.05, p < .05).
Similarly, mothers from a family environment with a high
level of self-parent con icts gave birth to more live-born infants
than those who reported harmonious relationships with their
parents during childhood (Mann–Whitney ˆ 2.68, p < .01).
Furthermore, the unhappy relationship between parents was
also associated with more live-born infants, compared to happy
marital relationships (Mann–Whitney ˆ 2.38, p < .05). No
signiŽ cant differences were found in terms of emotional
atmosphere, although the results are in the predicted direction
(Figure 3).
At the same time, either no signiŽ cant correlation
between reproductive output and family conditions during
childhood is found for males, or, where they are found,
they are in the opposite direction. In contrast to women,
men up to the age of 45 appear to father more children, if
they grew up in a favourable family environment. This
correlation is signiŽ cant in the case of parental relations
(Mann–Whitney ˆ 2.01, p < .05), but not in the other
cases that also point to the opposite direction, as predicted.
Figure 3 shows the contrasting patterns of fertility for men
and women in terms of the four subscales of family
background.
Among men, but not among women, negative association
has been found between the likelihood of childlessness and
family environment experienced in childhood. Men who grew
up in a family with a low level of parental affection and a poor
relationship between parents and offspring are more likely not
to father children, compared to men from a more favourable
family in terms of parental affection and parent-self relation-
ship (14.9% vs. 6.9%, x2 ˆ 5.34, p < .05; and 17.0% vs.
7.3%, x2 ˆ 6.75; p < .05, respectively).
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL DEVELOPMENT, 2001, 25 (6), 501–508
Figure 3. Fertility as a function of family background during childhood.
Mortality. Higher mortality rates were found for the siblings
of subjects coming from families with high stress and negative
affection when compared with subjects from a more favourable
family environment. Parental affection and emotional atmos-
phere were found to be strongly correlated with adult mortality
rates. The less parental love the children received during
childhood, the higher lifelong mortality rates they had until the
age of 45 (17.2% vs. 11.9%, x2 ˆ 5.11, p < .05). Similarly,
high levels of emotional stress during childhood proved to be a
strong determinant of the children’s low life-expectancy
(18.6% vs. 13.4%, x2 ˆ 4.52, p < .05). No signiŽ cant
differences were found in terms of self-parent con ict and
parental relations, although the results were in the predicted
direction.
Furthermore, no signiŽ cant differences in the rates of
juvenile mortality have been found between subjects who grow
up in various family environments. Although juvenile mortality
rate—measured until the age of 18—is relatively high in our
sample (3.15%), negative affections and high stress does not
seem to be associated with higher death rates during childhood
and adolescence. For example, on the subscale of parental
affection the rate of mortality was 3.84% for subjects with a
negative family background, and 2.96% for those with a
positive background (x2 ˆ 1.463, p ˆ .453).
Finally, adult mortality differences remain when the
number of siblings is controlled (for negative family conditions:
F ˆ 4.25, df ˆ 2, 325, p ˆ .015; for positive family conditions:
F ˆ 3.11, df ˆ 2, 349, p ˆ .021). Figure 4 shows that, in each
category of birth order, unfavourable family environments are
associated with a higher incidence of mortality, compared to
the more favourable family context.
Multiple regression analysis. Table 1 shows the results of
logistic multiple regression tests for male and female fertility
with the family contextual, mortality, and life-events variables.
Equation 1 shows the causal effect of childhood experiences on
fertility. Equation 2 adds the variable of mortality rates, and
Equation 3 adds the Ž rst life-event category, schooling, and
Equation 4 adds the age at Ž rst marriage. At each step of our
sex-speciŽ c analysis we examined the effects of the explanatory
variables on fertility as they were entered over time.
505
Equation 1 shows that, in accordance with variance analysis,
there is a strong negative correlation between contextual
childhood variables and fertility for females. Women growing
up in a con ictual, rejecting, and stressful family environment
have had more children by the end of the fertility period than
those coming from warm, sensitive, and happy environments.
At the same time, weak positive association was found for men
over 45. Overall, parent-self con ict tended to be the strongest
predictor of fertility.
Mortality was entered in the next step (Equation 2). As
predicted, both men and women with more deceased siblings
have had more children than those with a lower death rate
among siblings. Even though mortality was a strong predictor
of fertility, it did not decrease the effects of family environment
on the women’s later reproduction.
When the contextual family variables and mortality were
entered with life-event variables in the next steps (Equations 3
and 4), the contextual variables remained signiŽ cant among
women but not among men. The number of school years
completed by subjects had a negative effect on fertility,
although this in uence is relatively weak for both women and
men.
In the fourth step, date at Ž rst marriage tended to increase
the explained variance of fertility more than the level of
Figure 4. Mortality rates for the siblings of subjects above 45 with a
particular birth order.
506 BERECZKEI AND CSANAKY / STRESSFUL FAMILY ENVIRONMENT

Table 1
Results of regression analysis for fertility

Women

Equation 1 Equation 2 Equation 3 Equation 4

Variables t Beta t Beta t Beta t Beta

Family context
Parental affection ¡3.62*** .15 ¡3.31** .14 ¡2.69** .11 ¡2.71** .11
Parental atmosphere ¡1.21 .03 ¡1.19 .03 ¡1.02 .03 ¡1.04 .03
Parent-self con ict ¡2.94 .09 ¡2.51* .09 ¡1.86 .05 ¡1.81 .05
Parental relations ¡5.89*** .22 ¡5.74*** .22 ¡4.73*** .17 ¡4.17*** .16
Mortality 7.37*** .26 5.53*** .21 3.65*** .15
Life events
School years completed ¡1.92 .06* ¡2.42* .07
Date of Ž rst marriage ¡3.01** .12
R2 .156 .231 .274 .342

Men

Equation 1 Equation 2 Equation 3 Equation 4

Variables t Beta t Beta t Beta t Beta

Family context
Parental affection 0.84 .02 1.73 .04 1.16 .03 1.14 .03
Parental atmosphere 1.21 .03 1.09 .03 0.82 .02 0.74 .02
Parent-self con ict 2.11* .06 1.88 .05 1.66 .04 1.07 .03
Parental relations 1.24 .03 1.34 .03 0.86 .02 0.44 .01
Mortality 2.77** .11 2.14* .09 1.95* .09
Life events
School years completed ¡2.07* .06 ¡1.63 .05
Date of Ž rst marriage ¡2.51* .08
R2 .052 .106 .145 .193

* p < .05; ** p < .01; *** p < .001.

education. Both women and men who married earlier have had
more children than those who reported later marriage.
However, in accordance with the analysis of variance,
contextual variables do not associate with the date at Ž rst
marriage for males.
The results of these analyses show that women from an
unfavourable family environment tend to give birth to more
children than those from more favourable childhood circum-
stances. This relationship is partially accounted for by the
relationship between contextual variables, mortality, and date
of Ž rst marriage. Those with adverse childhood experiences
Ž nish schooling and marry earlier, and this shift in develop-
mental trajectory is likely to lead to higher fertility. Men’s
fertility, on the other hand, is not in uenced by childhood
experiences. For them, mortality rates of their siblings, and the
age of Ž rst marriage have been found to be predictive for later
reproduction.
Discussion
Our study, based on Belsky et al.’s evolutionary explanation
of socialisation, claims that early experiences in the family
environment can change complex developmental trajectories of
individuals as adaptive responses to the given conditions. In
family households characterised by stress, negative affection,
and con ict, individuals would switch from a high-parenting
effort to a high-mating effort. Our predictions were partly
supported by the empirical evidence we collected from 732
individuals. Children growing up in families where negative
parental affection, stressful emotional atmosphere, parent-
child con icts, and unhappy marital relations were prevalent,
developed a remarkably different behavioural pattern in their
adolescence and adulthood, compared to those growing up in
more favourable conditions. The former had more deceased
siblings, terminated school earlier, got married at a younger
age, and—in the case of women—had a higher number of
children. Women showed a more pronounced relationship
between childhood contextual variables and life-events than
men, and only women, not men, showed correlations between
all of these variables and fertility.
Putting these life-history traits in a causal model, our results
suggest that completed school years, and date of Ž rst marriage
are variables that may mediate the effects of family environ-
ment to the level of reproductive output among female adults.
Differences in childhood experiences are likely to lead to
differences in developmental trajectories with a consequence of
varying fertility rates. Those with adverse childhood experi-
ences Ž nish schooling and marry earlier, and this shift in
developmental trajectory is likely to lead to the higher number
of children.
One of the most important results of our study was that life-
history traits were associated with morality rates. Evolutionary
theory can provide unique predictions for these relationships
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL DEVELOPMENT, 2001, 25 (6), 501–508
that do not seem to be interpreted within the framework of the
alternative socialisation theories. Allocations of resources
between mating and parenting strategies seem to be consider-
ably affected by the intensity of mortality rates. In the light of
the theory of evolutionary ecology, when death rates are high,
and the survival of parents and/or offspring is relatively
unlikely, the optimal strategy will be mating-effort of reprodu-
cing early and often (Chisholm, 1993; Promislow & Harvey,
1990). In accordance with that theory, we have found higher
mortality rates for the siblings of female subjects coming from
families with high stress levels and negative affection as
compared with those from more favourable family conditions.
Furthermore, we have found that these mortality differences
remained across the various categories of birth order. Conse-
quently, the measured relationship between childhood vari-
ables and mortality rates does not seem to be an artifact of the
number of siblings.
These results suggest that children are sensitive to cues in
their family environment that are—or were in the past—
associated with a high probability of juvenile and adult death.
Under the in uence of adverse childhood experiences, they are
inclined to adopt an opportunistic mating pattern with early
maturation and high fertility as a type of compensation for
increased mortality. Indeed, mortality rates have been found to
be strongly related to fertility rates in the context of family
environment during childhood. It is remarkable that humans
striving for adaptation in contemporary society seem to still
follow their reproductive interests. A possible explanation for
the strong correlation between childhood experiences, mortal-
ity, and fertility is that conditional strategies enable individuals to
follow environmental changes and make reproductively opti-
mal decisions in any environment (Turke, 1990). Another
possibility is that human beings have been selected for speciŽ c,
genetically prescribed mental algorithms that control develop-
mental trajectories during childhood (Tooby & Cosmides,
1990). They may still enhance Ž tness if certain elements of
social life have remained similar to those prevailing in the
Pleistocene period (Bereczkei & Csanaky, 1996a; Pollock,
1983). It is possible that, although economic and cultural
structures have changed greatly during human history, certain
basic or elementary relationships in the family—associated
with mortality, stress, and emotional bonds between parents
and children—have remained the same, enabling individuals to
produce adaptive answers to the challenge of recent environ-
ments.
Although the relatively low probability of juvenile or adult
death is no longer expected to in uence the offspring’s
reproductive value, differential mortality seems to have an
impact on development trajectories, even in a society after
demographic transition. Wilson and Daly (1997) hypothesise
that humans may perceive a distribution of death among
relatives and acquaintances and may, therefore, calculate a
probability of survival, although not necessarily consciously. It
is possible that high levels of family stress, insensitive and
rejecting child-rearing practices, and insecure attachment is
still associated with above average morality rates. Children may
estimate not only cues associated with mortality but also death
rates per se during life and, as a consequence, adopt mating-
effort or parenting-effort reproductive strategies. However, in
order to conŽ rm the link between mortality and life-history
traits, additional studies have to be undertaken that would
reveal the number of deaths in a family, the role relatives play
in child rearing, and relationship to the deceased, etc.
507
Why did we not Ž nd similar associations between fertility
and life-history strategies for males? Our data revealed that
men coming from unfavourable family backgrounds fathered
fewer children, although the difference was signiŽ cant only on
one subscale. A possible explanation of this reversed repro-
ductive output may be that a different access to resources in
adulthood alter life-history trajectories that have been shaped
in childhood. According to evolutionary theory, males who
invest less in offspring compared to females, compete for
resources that can be transformed into reproductive success
(Betzig, Borgerhoff-Mulder, & Turke, 1988; Trivers, 1985;
Voland, 1998). Men with disturbed family conditions in
childhood are likely to have little chance for achieving high
status, and they may also have difŽ culty in successful mating
and reproduction. Our data seem to support this assumption;
the circumstances of child socialisation appear to be predictive
of the rate of childlessness. Men—but not women—who grow
up in a family with high stress levels and a low level of parental
affection are more likely than others to not father children. It is
possible, then, that a failure in accumulating resources reduces
the probability of getting married, and enhances the chance of
divorce, and in turn, leads to an increased rate of childlessness.
The high number of childless men may reduce the average
number of offspring—and counterbalance the reproductive
gain—of those men who come from unfavourable family
environments. At the moment, we do not know if this causal
chain is really the case, and additional studies are required.
Finally, as already discussed in the Introduction and
Method sections, our study has certain obvious constraints.
First, at present, we cannot tease apart contextual and
heritable effects on child development. Although, as seen
earlier, there has been support of context-sensitive timing on
the onset of puberty—and, possibly, other developmental
stages—the role of genetic factors cannot be ruled out. A future
study could aim at controlling the relevant environmental
variables of the family in order to demonstrate the heritability
of life-history paths.
The second constraint concerns the retrospective sample of
our study. In order to measure completed fertility we decided
to select a sample of adults aged between 45 and 54 years of
age. As a result of reducing the original sample size, however,
the reliability of our data might also have decreased. Because
we do not have direct measures of behavioural variables during
childhood and adolescence, we run the risk of subjects’ faulty
memory. It is possible, for example, that in retrospect family
life is either idealised or derogated. Thus, it could be that the
individuals in our sample, who were unsuccessful in their
marriage and education, may blame their parents and label
their early family environment as being an unfavourable
background. In this case, the causality pattern is the opposite
of that we have suggested here. However, data from our studies
on Gypsies (Bereczkei, 1998) suggest that the negative
circumstances in adulthood do not necessarily or ‘‘automat-
ically’’ invoke a rejecting attitude about parents and the
parental home. The majority of the Hungarian Gypsies live in a
very poor and unpredictable environment characterised,
among other factors, by early marriage, frequent divorce, a
large number of children, and a low level of education. Yet, we
found a proportion of adult Gypsies who reported parental
rejection and stressful family environment during childhood
comparable to that of people in our own sample. The
overwhelming majority of even the unemployed and very poor
Gypsy men and women characterised their childhood as being
508 BERECZKEI AND CSANAKY / STRESSFUL FAMILY ENVIRONMENT
happy and their parents as being supportive. If these
individuals had reconstructed their parental environment from
their adult experiences, most of them should depict their
parents as a key factor for their unfortunate circumstances. In
addition, however, many other possible labelling mechanisms
may be implied in the subjects’ memories, as a possible
consequence of the nondirect methods in our examination.
These limitations should be addressed in future studies.
Manuscript received December 1999
Revised manuscript received March 2000
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