Religion Programme, School of Social Sciences, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand.
Centre for Research on Evolution, Belief and Behaviour, University of Otago, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2020 Aug 17;375(1805):20190428. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0428. Epub 2020 Jul 29.
Many aspects of religious rituals suggest they provide adaptive benefits. Studies across societies consistently find that investments in ritual behaviour return high levels of cooperation. Another line of research finds that alloparental support to mothers increases maternal fertility and improves child outcomes. Although plausible, whether religious cooperation extends to alloparenting and/or affects child development remains unclear. Using 10 years of data collected from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), we test the predictions that church attendance is positively associated with social support and fertility ( = 8207 to = 8209), and that social support is positively associated with fertility and child development ( = 1766 to = 6561). Results show that: (i) relative to not attending, church attendance is positively related to a woman's social network support and aid from co-religionists, (ii) aid from co-religionists is associated with increased family size, while (iii) fertility declines with extra-religious social network support. Moreover, while extra-religious social network support decreased over time, co-religionist aid remained constant. These findings suggest that religious and secular networks differ in their longevity and have divergent influences on a woman's fertility. We find some suggestive evidence that support to mothers and aid from co-religionists is positively associated with a child's cognitive ability at later stages of development. Findings provide mixed support for the premise that ritual, such as church attendance, is part of a strategy that returns high levels of support, fertility and improved child outcomes. Identifying the diversity and scope of cooperative breeding strategies across global religions presents an intriguing new horizon in the evolutionary study of religious systems. This article is part of the theme issue 'Ritual renaissance: new insights into the most human of behaviours'.
宗教仪式的许多方面表明它们提供了适应性益处。跨社会的研究一致发现，对仪式行为的投资会带来高水平的合作。另一研究发现，向母亲提供的代际支持会增加母亲的生育能力并改善儿童的结果。尽管这是合理的，但宗教合作是否扩展到代际养育以及是否影响儿童的发展仍不清楚。我们使用从 Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children（ALSPAC）收集的 10 年数据，检验了以下预测：参加教堂与社会支持和生育力呈正相关（ = 8207 到 = 8209），而社会支持与生育力和儿童发展呈正相关（ = 1766 到 = 6561）。结果表明：（i）与不参加相比，参加教堂与女性的社会网络支持和宗教同侪的援助有关，（ii）宗教同侪的援助与家庭规模的增加有关，而（iii）生育力随着非宗教的社会网络支持的增加而下降。此外，虽然非宗教的社会网络支持随时间减少，但宗教同侪的援助保持不变。这些发现表明，宗教和世俗网络在其寿命方面存在差异，并且对女性的生育力有不同的影响。我们发现了一些有说服力的证据，表明对母亲的支持和宗教同侪的援助与孩子在后期发展阶段的认知能力呈正相关。研究结果为这样一种前提提供了混合支持，即仪式（例如参加教堂）是一种策略的一部分，该策略可以带来高水平的支持、生育力和改善儿童的结果。在全球宗教中识别出合作繁殖策略的多样性和范围，为宗教系统的进化研究提供了一个新的有趣的前景。本文是主题为“仪式复兴：对最人性行为的新见解”的一部分。
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