A lot is said about fatherlessness and it's effects, which includes increased aggression and propensity for crime in boys and much earlier puberty and higher rates of sexual promiscuity in girls, but I just had an aha moment as to why.
When a child has no father, that could indicate a distressed environment. In such an environment, it makes sense that boys who take more risks would be more successful, and girls who procreate earlier and less discriminately would be more successful, so humans who evolve with traits that would activate those behaviors in children who lack a father. This suggests that we're prewired by evolution to act this way because it's a net positive for the bloodline so families that behave this way are selected for but only when times are tough meaning there's a sort of modality in when to engage the strategy.
Just because they're successful survival strategies doesn't mean they're good ways to live, mind you. It also doesn't mean such people are biologically determined to lead bad lives.
Now, is it part of epigenetics? Is it a neurological thing? I am not in any position to even speculate.
When a child has no father, that could indicate a distressed environment. In such an environment, it makes sense that boys who take more risks would be more successful, and girls who procreate earlier and less discriminately would be more successful, so humans who evolve with traits that would activate those behaviors in children who lack a father. This suggests that we're prewired by evolution to act this way because it's a net positive for the bloodline so families that behave this way are selected for but only when times are tough meaning there's a sort of modality in when to engage the strategy.
Just because they're successful survival strategies doesn't mean they're good ways to live, mind you. It also doesn't mean such people are biologically determined to lead bad lives.
Now, is it part of epigenetics? Is it a neurological thing? I am not in any position to even speculate.
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