Life History
Evolution of Infancy, Childhood, and Adolescence
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22368591 |
|---|---|
| Authors | B H Smith (0000-0001-5126-5445, University of Michigan, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Pages | 1-10 |
| Publication date | 2018-09-05 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | OTHER |
| Venue | The International Encyclopedia of Anthropology (JOURNAL) |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/9781118924396.wbiea2104 |
| OpenAlex | W3081809027 |
| ISBN | 9781118924396 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 19 |
The human life cycle shows several novelties in comparison to our close primate relatives. Despite a prolonged juvenile period, humans abbreviate infancy and crowd interbirth intervals. “Childhood” is an extended period of postweaning dependence, depressed skeletal growth, and active brain maturation characterized by intense play and skills practice. In adolescence, skeletal growth rebounds sharply in a characteristic spurt not seen in other mammals. With age, reproducing females accrue multiple dependents but food sharing spreads energy costs over age groups, kin, and allies. In evolutionary perspective, juvenile life functions to promote survival, harvest energy for growth and development, and make the best possible adult. Much of the human life course can be interpreted as support for the latter—the production of offspring with complex cognitive skills. The fossil record demonstrates that distinctive features of our life cycle are to be found within the evolution of the genus Homo and not in antecedents
Biology · Developmental psychology · Early childhood · Evolutionary biology · Growth spurt · Human evolution · Juvenile · Life course approach · Life history · Life history theory · Offspring · Primate · Demography · Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior · Human-Animal Interaction Studies · Primate Behavior and Ecology · Psychology · Ecology · Endocrinology
Hunter-Gatherer Childhoods
Evolution of Infant and Young Child Feeding
Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development
Patterns of human growth, 2nd edition
Growth and Development of the Nariokotome Youth, KNM-WT 15000
A theory of human life history evolution
Evolution of the human life cycle
Life-History Inference in the Early Hominins Australopithecus and Paranthropus
Age-dependency in hunting ability among the Ache of Eastern Paraguay
Middle Childhood and Modern Human Origins
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |