Parenting and cultures of risk: a comparative analysis of infidelity, aggression, and witchcraft

American Anthropologist • Vol/Iss. 109(1) • University of California Press • Berkeley, Calif. • Published In • Pages: 164-179 •
By Quinlan, Robert J., Quinlan, Marsha B.

Abstract

This study tests a broad "risk response" hypothesis: environmental risk can reduce parents' involvement and care which, through its effects on children's behavioral strategies later in life, ultimately produces a larger cultural model favoring risky behavior. Examinations of extramarital sex, aggression, theft, and witchcraft support this hypothesis, leading the authors to suggest that child development is the underpinning of cultural adaptation in the face of environmental change.
Documents and Hypotheses Filed By: matthew.g.roth  Kate Cummings  Amelia Piazza