Date of Award

5-1-2021

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Anthropology

Content Description

1 online resource (ix, 151pages) : illustrations (some color)

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Lawrence M Schell

Committee Members

Allison A Appleton, Elise Andaya

Keywords

Developmental plasticity, Epigenetics, Evolutionary anthropology, Growth and development, Social inequality, Stress, Children, Developmental psychobiology, Low-income mothers, Hydrocortisone, Stress (Physiology), Stress (Psychology)

Subject Categories

Biological and Physical Anthropology | Biology | Social and Cultural Anthropology

Abstract

Childhood growth has been a means of identifying systemic, material inequalities within populations. The plasticity of growth is responsive to multiple environmental factors, most notably adequate nutrition, but also psychosocial stress. Psychosocial stress can be a function of the social and political economic ecology, reinforcing power hierarchies within societies. This dissertation proposes that childhood growth can also reflect inequality in the distribution of psychosocial stress exposure through mothers’ feelings of a chronically stressful environment conveyed through maternal-infant interactions.

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