Mother-in-law or mother-in-law: scientists have figured out which grandmother is more useful
Finnish and Canadian scientists decided to find out whether grandmothers are really necessary for the survival of their grandchildren, and of which grandmothers are of more practical use. The study showed that grandmothers are different, and some have a beneficial effect on the health of the grandchildren, while others do not.
In nature, grandmothers have only human, killer whales, beluga whales and narwhals. In other types of such a thing as "grandmother" does not exist in principle. Scientists believe that having a grandmother significantly increases the chances of the grandchildren’s generation for survival. It is this task that is given to the grandmothers by evolutionary processes.
But the last study, which was jointly carried out by experts from Canada and Finland, showed that grandmothers are not equally helpful.
Finnish researchers from the University of Turku analyzed data on fertility and mortality in the territory of their country from 1731 to 1895. The study touched almost 6 thousand grandchildren and their grandmothers.
Canadian experts analyzed data on the population of Quebec from 1608 to 1799. The study touched 3.5 thousand grandmothers and almost 56 thousand grandchildren.
Despite different territories, different years, different numbers of grandchildren and grandmothers, the results were similar.
Where the grandmother lives with his parents, the child’s chances of survival at an early age increase by more than 30%. In this case, it is exactly about the grandmother in the line of mother, that is, about the mother-in-law. If a mother-in-law lives with the family, usually she does not affect the survival of grandchildren and granddaughters. After 75 years, mothers-in-law become dangerous at all: the survival rate of children in families with such a grandmother was reduced by 37%.
Anthropologists have found out another curious fact: if the mother-in-law was alive in the family at the time of the birth of the first-born, the number of children by an average of 2-3 children exceeded the number of children in families in which the mother-in-law had already died by the birth of the first grandson.
This is called the "grandmother effect".
The farther away the mother-in-law from a family with grandchildren, the less children in this family, and the worse they survive. The closer the mother-in-law, the more children will be able to give birth to her daughter, and the higher will be the chances of each of the grandchildren for survival.
His research scientists did not try to offend grandmothers on the father’s side - There can also be a lot of benefit from the mother-in-law, but nevertheless, the researchers stressed that it is preferable if the grandmother on the papal line does not live with young parents, but at some distance. Communication with her will be a real holiday for the child. The fact is that the nature of women lays increased concern for the children of their daughters, and not their sons. And with this, according to scientists, nothing can be done.
