Social Inequalities, Family Relationships, and Child Health

Abstract

Humans are extraordinarily social creatures. We evolved large brains with a unique suite of abilities, including empathy, consciousness, and language. Our sociocognitive adaptations involve complex integration of neurological (brain) and neuroendocrine (hormone) systems. We are just beginning to understand the genetics that underpin these core aspects of the human psyche. In this chapter, my goal is to develop ideas from evolutionary biology about how and why family environment affects child development that can be integrated with emerging new opportunities in genetic studies. I suggest potential links with stress endocrinology, illustrated with empirical examples from my long-term study of child health in a rural community on the island of Dominica. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)