ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the different hypotheses for why mothers generally provide more parental care than fathers. It explains the several major factors that are theoretically expected to influence parental care. The chapter also describes the theory of parent–offspring conflict and provide one example from one own observations. It analyzes why parents sometimes try to influence the mating and sexuality of their children consider two that are most relevant to humans: the paternity uncertainty hypothesis and the mating opportunity costs hypothesis. The hypothesis of mating opportunity costs may partly explain individual differences in parenting among humans. Female interest in infants peaked in childhood and adolescence: “the function of early female attraction to infants is probably to facilitate the acquisition of parenting skills through observation and hands-on experience. Despite ideologies of gender equality, either men are reluctant to take a large role in direct parenting or women prefer to take a larger role.
