Social Capital Provision by Biological and Non-Biological Parents: Testing the Hamilton’s Kin Selection Theory
Provision of social capital into children’s education is a normal responsibility for parents. As whether all categories of parents, be they real or pseudo, make the efforts to live up to this expectation, a lot of scientific inquiry had not been conducted into it Again, the kin selection theory has been tested on various aspects of human behaviour, not on parental social capital investment in their children and wards’ education. The paper, therefore, tested the Hamilton’s kin selection theory using real and pseudo parents’ offering social capital for their wards’ schooling. The study utilised children living with biological and biological parents respectively. Descriptive survey design was employed for the data collection and analysis. While frequency counts and percentage distributions were employed for the analysis of the bio-data of the respondents, t-test was used to check the similarities or otherwise in provision of social capital by the two categories of caregivers. The analysis yielded results, which disclosed differences in the social investment made by biological and non-biological parents, confirming the kin selection theory. It could be concluded that the kin selection theory holds true in parental involvement in children’s education as well. The paper contributes to expanding extant literature and understanding of the kin selection theory on behavioural science or in human and altruistic behaviour. Research areas that need further scientific inquiry with respect to the theory have been offered.
Social Capital, Real Parents, Pseudo Parents, Hamilton’s Kin Selection Theory
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