C Helfrecht
Biographic Data
| ID | 55946 |
|---|---|
| NAME | C Helfrecht |
| GIVEN NAMES | C |
| FAMILY NAME | Helfrecht |
| SIGNATURE | HELFRECHT C |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Alabama |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2228-6823 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 30 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 14 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Field Methods for Investigating Onset and Progression of Middle Childhood Physical, Hormonal, Cognitive and Social Development
Child development is biocultural, meaning both genetics and experience with the ecocultural context shape ontogeny. Developmental systems—physical, hormonal, cognitive, social, among others—are dynamic and have points of interrelation with each other and local environments, as well as tradeoffs in their patterning. These articulations challenge our ability to discern the factors influencing our phenotypic outcomes; further, similar outcomes may n…
We Have Never Seen These Things in Our Entire Lives
Developing countries are experiencing the effects of climate change and urbanization simultaneously, often without the economic or political capital to address the impacts. Smallholder farmers in these countries are particularly vulnerable, given their limited resources and dependence on rainfed agriculture. On the African continent, Ethiopia is among the countries most impacted by climate change, largely due to drought, in recent years. To exami…
What makes mothers happy and unhappy during pregnancy and postpartum? A qualitative investigation of beliefs from Gamo mothers in Southern Ethiopia
Depression during pregnancy and postpartum has implications for the health and well‐being of mothers and infants, yet investigations have largely been limited to high‐income countries. In this study, we explore Gamo mothers' perceptions of happiness, unhappiness, and emotional well‐being during pregnancy and after birth. We interviewed 42 Gamo mothers of infants living in a rural highland community in Southern Ethiopia. We analyzed interviews to …
DHEAS and nutritional status among Sidama, Ngandu, and Aka children
OBJECTIVE: Adrenarche, the biological event marked by rising production of dehydroepiandrosterone and its sulfate (DHEAS), may represent a sensitive period in child development, with important implications for adolescence and beyond. Nutritional status, particularly BMI and/or adiposity, has long been hypothesized as a factor in DHEAS production but findings are inconsistent, and few studies have examined this among non-industrialized societies. …
The Sidama Model of Human Development
Poverty and neglected tropical diseases in the American Rural South, by Christine Crudo Blackburn and Macey Lively, Lanham, MD, Lexington Books, 2021
FundingThe author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article
Applying minimally invasive biomarkers of chronic stress across complex ecological contexts
Chronic stress is both theoretically and methodologically challenging to operationalize through biomarkers. Yet minimally invasive, field‐friendly biomarkers of chronic stress are valuable in research linking biology and culture, seeking to understand differential patterns of human development across ecological contexts, and exploring the evolution of human sociality. For human biologists, a central question in measurement and interpretation of b…
Effects of Family Demographics and Household Economics on Sidama Children's Nutritional Status
Life history and socioecology of infancy
OBJECTIVES: Evolution of human maternal investment strategies is hypothesized to be tied to biological constraints and environmental cues. It is likely, however, that the socioecological context in which mothers' decisions are made is equally important. Yet, a lack of studies examining maternal investment from a cross-cultural, holistic approach has hindered our ability to investigate the evolution of maternal investment strategies. Here, we take…
Social networks, cooperative breeding, and the human milk microbiome
OBJECTIVES: We present the first available data on the human milk microbiome (HMM) from small-scale societies (hunter-gatherers and horticulturalists in the Central African Republic [CAR]) and explore relationships among subsistence type and seasonality on HMM diversity and composition. Additionally, as humans are cooperative breeders and, throughout our evolutionary history and today, we rear offspring within social networks, we examine associat…
DHEAS patterning across childhood in three sub‐Saharan populations
OBJECTIVES: Hormones have many roles in human ontogeny, including the timing of life history 'switch points' across development. Limited hormonal data exist from non-Western children, leaving a significant gap in our understanding of the diversity of life history patterning. This cross-sectional study examines dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) production in relation to age, sex, ethnicity, and cortisol concentrations, as well as average age …
Sibling effects on nutritional status
OBJECTIVES: Examination of sibling effects on nutritional status is complicated by siblings being both alloparents and resource competitors, as well as the extensive changes children undergo across development. To evaluate sibling nutritional effects with consideration of these opposing roles, we use an evolutionary framework rooted in human ontogeny and cooperative breeding. METHODS: Anthropometric data were collected from 113 Ngandu horticultur…
Cooperative breeding and Aka children's nutritional status
Research suggests that nonmaternal caregivers (allomothers) offer essential assistance through caregiving and provisioning, helping to support lengthy child development. Here, we examine the role of allomothers and the broader social and sharing network on Aka forager children's anthropometrics. We hypothesize that nonmaternal investors strategically target their assistance when it is most needed and when it will have the greatest effect. We eval…
Interpersonal Aggression among Aka Hunter-Gatherers of the Central African Republic
Cooperative breeding and Aka children's nutritional status
Research suggests that nonmaternal caregivers (allomothers) offer essential assistance through caregiving and provisioning, helping to support lengthy child development. Here, we examine the role of allomothers and the broader social and sharing network on Aka forager children's anthropometrics. We hypothesize that nonmaternal investors strategically target their assistance when it is most needed and when it will have the greatest effect. We eval…
Life history and socioecology of infancy
OBJECTIVES: Evolution of human maternal investment strategies is hypothesized to be tied to biological constraints and environmental cues. It is likely, however, that the socioecological context in which mothers' decisions are made is equally important. Yet, a lack of studies examining maternal investment from a cross-cultural, holistic approach has hindered our ability to investigate the evolution of maternal investment strategies. Here, we take…
Interpersonal Aggression among Aka Hunter-Gatherers of the Central African Republic
Effects of Family Demographics and Household Economics on Sidama Children's Nutritional Status
Interpersonal Aggression among Aka Hunter-Gatherers of the Central African Republic
Cooperative breeding and Aka children's nutritional status
Research suggests that nonmaternal caregivers (allomothers) offer essential assistance through caregiving and provisioning, helping to support lengthy child development. Here, we examine the role of allomothers and the broader social and sharing network on Aka forager children's anthropometrics. We hypothesize that nonmaternal investors strategically target their assistance when it is most needed and when it will have the greatest effect. We eval…
Sibling effects on nutritional status
OBJECTIVES: Examination of sibling effects on nutritional status is complicated by siblings being both alloparents and resource competitors, as well as the extensive changes children undergo across development. To evaluate sibling nutritional effects with consideration of these opposing roles, we use an evolutionary framework rooted in human ontogeny and cooperative breeding. METHODS: Anthropometric data were collected from 113 Ngandu horticultur…
Social networks, cooperative breeding, and the human milk microbiome
OBJECTIVES: We present the first available data on the human milk microbiome (HMM) from small-scale societies (hunter-gatherers and horticulturalists in the Central African Republic [CAR]) and explore relationships among subsistence type and seasonality on HMM diversity and composition. Additionally, as humans are cooperative breeders and, throughout our evolutionary history and today, we rear offspring within social networks, we examine associat…
DHEAS patterning across childhood in three sub‐Saharan populations
OBJECTIVES: Hormones have many roles in human ontogeny, including the timing of life history 'switch points' across development. Limited hormonal data exist from non-Western children, leaving a significant gap in our understanding of the diversity of life history patterning. This cross-sectional study examines dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) production in relation to age, sex, ethnicity, and cortisol concentrations, as well as average age …
Life history and socioecology of infancy
OBJECTIVES: Evolution of human maternal investment strategies is hypothesized to be tied to biological constraints and environmental cues. It is likely, however, that the socioecological context in which mothers' decisions are made is equally important. Yet, a lack of studies examining maternal investment from a cross-cultural, holistic approach has hindered our ability to investigate the evolution of maternal investment strategies. Here, we take…
Poverty and neglected tropical diseases in the American Rural South, by Christine Crudo Blackburn and Macey Lively, Lanham, MD, Lexington Books, 2021
FundingThe author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article
Applying minimally invasive biomarkers of chronic stress across complex ecological contexts
Chronic stress is both theoretically and methodologically challenging to operationalize through biomarkers. Yet minimally invasive, field‐friendly biomarkers of chronic stress are valuable in research linking biology and culture, seeking to understand differential patterns of human development across ecological contexts, and exploring the evolution of human sociality. For human biologists, a central question in measurement and interpretation of b…
Effects of Family Demographics and Household Economics on Sidama Children's Nutritional Status
DHEAS and nutritional status among Sidama, Ngandu, and Aka children
OBJECTIVE: Adrenarche, the biological event marked by rising production of dehydroepiandrosterone and its sulfate (DHEAS), may represent a sensitive period in child development, with important implications for adolescence and beyond. Nutritional status, particularly BMI and/or adiposity, has long been hypothesized as a factor in DHEAS production but findings are inconsistent, and few studies have examined this among non-industrialized societies. …
The Sidama Model of Human Development
Field Methods for Investigating Onset and Progression of Middle Childhood Physical, Hormonal, Cognitive and Social Development
Child development is biocultural, meaning both genetics and experience with the ecocultural context shape ontogeny. Developmental systems—physical, hormonal, cognitive, social, among others—are dynamic and have points of interrelation with each other and local environments, as well as tradeoffs in their patterning. These articulations challenge our ability to discern the factors influencing our phenotypic outcomes; further, similar outcomes may n…
We Have Never Seen These Things in Our Entire Lives
Developing countries are experiencing the effects of climate change and urbanization simultaneously, often without the economic or political capital to address the impacts. Smallholder farmers in these countries are particularly vulnerable, given their limited resources and dependence on rainfed agriculture. On the African continent, Ethiopia is among the countries most impacted by climate change, largely due to drought, in recent years. To exami…
What makes mothers happy and unhappy during pregnancy and postpartum? A qualitative investigation of beliefs from Gamo mothers in Southern Ethiopia
Depression during pregnancy and postpartum has implications for the health and well‐being of mothers and infants, yet investigations have largely been limited to high‐income countries. In this study, we explore Gamo mothers' perceptions of happiness, unhappiness, and emotional well‐being during pregnancy and after birth. We interviewed 42 Gamo mothers of infants living in a rural highland community in Southern Ethiopia. We analyzed interviews to …
Psychology (9 works) · Biology (7 works) · Developmental psychology (7 works) · Medicine (7 works) · Demography (6 works) · Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior (6 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Population (4 works) · Anthropometry (3 works) · Child Nutrition and Water Access (3 works)