Parental investment in children with chronic disease: The effect of child’s and mother’s age

Original article:

Parental investment in children with chronic disease: The effect of child’s and mother’s age

Evolutionary Psychology 5(4): 844-859 Sigal Tifferet, School of Social Sciences and Management, Ruppin Academic Center, Emek Hefer, Israel, tifferet@ruppin.ac.ilOrly Manor, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem – Hadassah, IsraelShlomi Constantini, Department of Pediatric Neurosurgery, Dana Children’s Hospital, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, IsraelOrna Friedman, Department of Pediatric Neurosurgery, Dana Children’s Hospital, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, IsraelYoel Elizur, Department of Psychology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

Abstract

Parents do not invest their resources in their children equally. Three factors which elicit differential parental investment are the parent’s reproductive value, the child’s reproductive value (RV), and the impact of the investment on the child (II). As the child matures, his RV increases while the II may decrease. This raises a question regarding the favored strategy of investment by child age. It was hypothesized that different categories of parental investment generate different age-based strategies. Emotional investment, such as maternal worrying for the child’s health, was hypothesized to increase with the child’s age, while direct care was hypothesized to decrease with the child’s age. Both categories were hypothesized to increase with the mother’s age at childbirth. 137 Israeli mothers of children with chronic neurological conditions reported levels of worrying for their child and levels of change in direct care. Maternal worrying about the child’s health was positively associated with the child’s age at diagnosis and the severity of his illness, and negatively associated with the time from diagnosis. An increase in direct care was positively associated with maternal age at childbirth and illness severity, and negatively associated with the time from diagnosis, and the duration of the marriage. Contrary to the hypothesis, the child’s age had no effect on changes in direct care. It appears that in mothers of children with adverse neurological conditions, child and maternal age effect parental investment differently. While the child’s age is related to maternal worrying about his health, the mother’s age at childbirth is related to changes in direct care.

Keywords

parental investment, pediatric psychology, age, reproductive value, worrying.

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