Environmental harshness and unpredictability, life history, and social and academic behavior of adolescents in nine countries

Lei Chang; Hui Jing Lu; Jennifer E. Lansford; Ann T. Skinner; Marc H. Bornstein; Laurence Steinberg; Kenneth A. Dodge; Bin Bin Chen; Qian Tian; Dario Bacchini; Kirby Deater-Deckard; Concetta Pastorelli; Liane Peña Alampay; Emma Sorbring; Suha M. Al-Hassan; Paul Oburu; Patrick S. Malone; Laura Di Giunta; Liliana Maria Uribe Tirado; Sombat Tapanya

doi:10.1037/dev0000655

Environmental harshness and unpredictability, life history, and social and academic behavior of adolescents in nine countries

Lei Chang, Hui Jing Lu, Jennifer E. Lansford, Ann T. Skinner, Marc H. Bornstein, Laurence Steinberg, Kenneth A. Dodge, Bin Bin Chen, Qian Tian, Dario Bacchini, Kirby Deater-Deckard, Concetta Pastorelli, Liane Peña Alampay, Emma Sorbring, Suha M. Al-Hassan, Paul Oburu, Patrick S. Malone, Laura Di Giunta, Liliana Maria Uribe Tirado, Sombat Tapanya

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Abstract

Safety is essential for life. To survive, humans and other animals have developed sets of psychological and physiological adaptations known as life history (LH) tradeoff strategies in response to various safety constraints. Evolutionarily selected LH strategies in turn regulate development and behavior to optimize survival under prevailing safety conditions. The present study tested LH hypotheses concerning safety based on a 6-year longitudinal sample of 1,245 adolescents and their parents from 9 countries. The results revealed that, invariant across countries, environmental harshness, and unpredictability (lack of safety) was negatively associated with slow LH behavioral profile, measured 2 years later, and slow LH behavioral profile was negatively and positively associated with externalizing behavior and academic performance, respectively, as measured an additional 2 years later. These results support the evolutionary conception that human development responds to environmental safety cues through LH regulation of social and learning behaviors.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	890-903
Number of pages	14
Journal	Developmental psychology
Volume	55
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000655
State	Published - Apr 2019

Keywords

Academic performance
Environmental harshness
Externalizing
Fast and slow life history strategy
Unpredictability

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Demography
Developmental and Educational Psychology
Life-span and Life-course Studies

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10.1037/dev0000655

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Chang, L., Lu, H. J., Lansford, J. E., Skinner, A. T., Bornstein, M. H., Steinberg, L., Dodge, K. A., Chen, B. B., Tian, Q., Bacchini, D., Deater-Deckard, K., Pastorelli, C., Alampay, L. P., Sorbring, E., Al-Hassan, S. M., Oburu, P., Malone, P. S., Di Giunta, L., Uribe Tirado, L. M., & Tapanya, S. (2019). Environmental harshness and unpredictability, life history, and social and academic behavior of adolescents in nine countries. Developmental psychology, 55(4), 890-903. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000655

Chang, L, Lu, HJ, Lansford, JE, Skinner, AT, Bornstein, MH, Steinberg, L, Dodge, KA, Chen, BB, Tian, Q, Bacchini, D, Deater-Deckard, K, Pastorelli, C, Alampay, LP, Sorbring, E, Al-Hassan, SM, Oburu, P, Malone, PS, Di Giunta, L, Uribe Tirado, LM & Tapanya, S 2019, 'Environmental harshness and unpredictability, life history, and social and academic behavior of adolescents in nine countries', Developmental psychology, vol. 55, no. 4, pp. 890-903. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000655

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title = "Environmental harshness and unpredictability, life history, and social and academic behavior of adolescents in nine countries",

abstract = "Safety is essential for life. To survive, humans and other animals have developed sets of psychological and physiological adaptations known as life history (LH) tradeoff strategies in response to various safety constraints. Evolutionarily selected LH strategies in turn regulate development and behavior to optimize survival under prevailing safety conditions. The present study tested LH hypotheses concerning safety based on a 6-year longitudinal sample of 1,245 adolescents and their parents from 9 countries. The results revealed that, invariant across countries, environmental harshness, and unpredictability (lack of safety) was negatively associated with slow LH behavioral profile, measured 2 years later, and slow LH behavioral profile was negatively and positively associated with externalizing behavior and academic performance, respectively, as measured an additional 2 years later. These results support the evolutionary conception that human development responds to environmental safety cues through LH regulation of social and learning behaviors.",

keywords = "Academic performance, Environmental harshness, Externalizing, Fast and slow life history strategy, Unpredictability",

author = "Lei Chang and Lu, {Hui Jing} and Lansford, {Jennifer E.} and Skinner, {Ann T.} and Bornstein, {Marc H.} and Laurence Steinberg and Dodge, {Kenneth A.} and Chen, {Bin Bin} and Qian Tian and Dario Bacchini and Kirby Deater-Deckard and Concetta Pastorelli and Alampay, {Liane Pe{\~n}a} and Emma Sorbring and Al-Hassan, {Suha M.} and Paul Oburu and Malone, {Patrick S.} and {Di Giunta}, Laura and {Uribe Tirado}, {Liliana Maria} and Sombat Tapanya",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018 American Psychological Association.",

year = "2019",

month = apr,

doi = "10.1037/dev0000655",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "55",

pages = "890--903",

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T1 - Environmental harshness and unpredictability, life history, and social and academic behavior of adolescents in nine countries

AU - Chang, Lei

AU - Lu, Hui Jing

AU - Lansford, Jennifer E.

AU - Skinner, Ann T.

AU - Bornstein, Marc H.

AU - Steinberg, Laurence

AU - Dodge, Kenneth A.

AU - Chen, Bin Bin

AU - Tian, Qian

AU - Bacchini, Dario

AU - Deater-Deckard, Kirby

AU - Pastorelli, Concetta

AU - Alampay, Liane Peña

AU - Sorbring, Emma

AU - Al-Hassan, Suha M.

AU - Oburu, Paul

AU - Malone, Patrick S.

AU - Di Giunta, Laura

AU - Uribe Tirado, Liliana Maria

AU - Tapanya, Sombat

PY - 2019/4

Y1 - 2019/4

N2 - Safety is essential for life. To survive, humans and other animals have developed sets of psychological and physiological adaptations known as life history (LH) tradeoff strategies in response to various safety constraints. Evolutionarily selected LH strategies in turn regulate development and behavior to optimize survival under prevailing safety conditions. The present study tested LH hypotheses concerning safety based on a 6-year longitudinal sample of 1,245 adolescents and their parents from 9 countries. The results revealed that, invariant across countries, environmental harshness, and unpredictability (lack of safety) was negatively associated with slow LH behavioral profile, measured 2 years later, and slow LH behavioral profile was negatively and positively associated with externalizing behavior and academic performance, respectively, as measured an additional 2 years later. These results support the evolutionary conception that human development responds to environmental safety cues through LH regulation of social and learning behaviors.

AB - Safety is essential for life. To survive, humans and other animals have developed sets of psychological and physiological adaptations known as life history (LH) tradeoff strategies in response to various safety constraints. Evolutionarily selected LH strategies in turn regulate development and behavior to optimize survival under prevailing safety conditions. The present study tested LH hypotheses concerning safety based on a 6-year longitudinal sample of 1,245 adolescents and their parents from 9 countries. The results revealed that, invariant across countries, environmental harshness, and unpredictability (lack of safety) was negatively associated with slow LH behavioral profile, measured 2 years later, and slow LH behavioral profile was negatively and positively associated with externalizing behavior and academic performance, respectively, as measured an additional 2 years later. These results support the evolutionary conception that human development responds to environmental safety cues through LH regulation of social and learning behaviors.

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KW - Externalizing

KW - Fast and slow life history strategy

KW - Unpredictability

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Environmental harshness and unpredictability, life history, and social and academic behavior of adolescents in nine countries

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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