Kin Relationships and the Caregiving Biases of Grandparents

and uncles Preliminary version. Paper accepted for Human Nature (will be printed in 2008). 2 Paternity certainty and matrilineal family ties have been used to explain the asymmetric caregiving of grandparents and aunts and uncles. The proximate mechanisms underlying biased kin investment, however, remain unclear. A central question of the presented study was whether the parent-kin relationship is an important link in the kin caregiving. In a bi-generational questionnaire study, we asked subjects to estimate the intensity of their relationships to parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles (emotional closeness, investment received in childhood). In addition, the subjects ’ parents rated their emotional closeness to their parents and siblings. We found that the parent-kin relationship was closely linked to the relatives ' childcare and could partly explain asymmetric caregiving. Maternal aunts played a special role as caregivers. Especially the mother’s younger or lastborn sister cared intensively for nieces and nephews, regardless of her closeness to the subjects ’ mother. Preliminary version. Paper accepted for Human Nature (will be printed in 2008).