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Most research seeking to illuminate how environmental expe-riences influence human development, especially in the early years of life, is guided by a mental-health framework, which presumes that certain environmental influences and outcomes (e.g., sensitive parenting–secure attachment) are good and others (e.g., harsh parenting–aggression) are bad. A reproductive-strategy perspective, based on life-history theory—an evolutionary-biological approach to develop-ment—regards diverse developmental processes and products rather differently. What many conceptualize as manifestations of “nonoptimal ” development (e.g., insecure attachment, aggression, risk taking, early sexual debut), evolutionary-minded thinkers regard as potential alternative tactics for dis-persing genes across generations and thereby enhancing reproductive fitness under the ecological conditions that giv