Do post-menopausal women provide more care to their kin?: evidence of grandparental caregiving from two large-scale national surveys |
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| Institution: | 1. University of British Columbia, Canada;2. The University of Queensland, Australia;1. Department of Endocrinology and Genetics, University Children''s Hospital, Medical University Sofia, Sofia, Bulgaria;2. Department of Medical Chemistry and Biochemistry, Medical University Sofia, Sofia, Bulgaria;3. Genetic Medico-Diagnostic Laboratory Genica, Sofia, Bulgaria;1. Division of Human Nutrition, Wageningen University & Research, P.O. Box 17, 6700, AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands;2. Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer, Cancer Council Victoria, 615 St Kilda Road Melbourne Victoria, 3004, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia;3. Center of Research on Psychology in Somatic Diseases (CoRPS), Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology, Tilburg University, P.O. Box 90153, 5000, LE, Tilburg, The Netherlands;4. Institute for Food, Nutrition and Health, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AR, UK;5. School of Public Health, University of Queensland, 288 Herston Road, Herston QLD, 4006, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia;1. Department of Anthropology, Emory University, USA;2. Department of Zoology, University of South Bohemia, Czech Republic;3. Institute of Evolutionary Medicine, University of Zurich, Switzerland |
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| Abstract: | Drawing on the logical principles of life-history theory, it may be hypothesized that—compared to pre-menopausal women—post-menopausal women will spend more time caring for grandchildren and other kin. This hypothesis was tested in two studies, on results obtained from two large datasets documenting altruistic behaviors of pre-menopausal and post-menopausal women in the United States (n = 7161) and Australia (N = 25,066). Results from both studies revealed that (even when controlling statistically for age, health, financial resources, and other pertinent variables), post-menopausal women devoted more time to grandparental caregiving. This effect was specific to kin care: Menopause status was not as strongly related to a measure of non-kin-directed altruistic behavior (time spent volunteering). These results provide the first empirical support for a previously-untested behavioral implication of menopause. |
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