Contact frequencies between grandparents and grandchildren in a modern society: estimates of the impact of paternity uncertainty

Abstract

Evolutionary theory suggests that maternal grandparents will invest more in their grandchildren than paternal grandparents, due to the difference between the certainty of maternity and the uncertainty of paternity. Tests of this prediction have tended to use retrospective ratings by grandchildren rather than self-reported behaviour by grandparents. Using a large-scale dataset from the Netherlands, we show significant differences between maternal and paternal grandparents in terms of frequencies of contact with their grandchildren, while controlling for a wide range of other variables. Our results show biases consistent with the paternity uncertainty hypothesis.