Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

New Research Suggests Cat And Dog ‘Moms’ And ‘Dads’ Really Are Parenting Their Pets: Here’S The Evolutionary Explanation Why, Shelly Volsche

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Have you noticed more cats riding in strollers lately? Or bumper stickers that read, “I love my granddogs”? You’re not imagining it. More people are investing serious time, money and attention in their pets.

It looks an awful lot like parenting, but of pets, not people.

Can this kind of caregiving toward animals really be considered parenting? Or is something else going on here?

Comparative Investigations Of Population Health In Urban Military And Non-Military Communities Of Roman Britain, Marina Elizabeth Noble

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This research compiles and compares the biological health profiles of three urban populations at Venta Belgarum (Winchester), Londinium (London), and Eboracum (York) as a means for assessing health and status differences between military and non-military urban populations in Roman Britain. Data concerning a total of 1,334 individuals representing all ages and both sexes were analyzed between the three cemetery samples. Estimations of mean stature, rates of periosteal reaction, porotic hyperostosis, cribra orbitalia, linear enamel hypoplasias, and trauma are compared here in an effort to discuss relative health, status, and inequality within the wider populations of urban non-military communities (Venta …

Local Ecological Knowledge Exchange Of Steelhead, Mikaela A. Weisenfluh

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Local ecological knowledge (LEK) has been researched in the past to examine how it can aid and support scientific ecological knowledge (SEK). SEK is often seen as the preferred and superior type of knowledge when dealing with environmental changes. However, both of these types of knowledge are not segregated within individuals but are dependent on age, experience with the fishery, experience with a scientific organization, and/or perception of changes in the environment based on lived experiences. Interactions between LEK and SEK users is valuable to the conservation that is needed to protect these fish species and is dependent on how …

Queer Lives In Idaho And The Surrounding Region: Impacts Of Anti-Discrimination Laws, High School Environment, And The Covid-19 Pandemic On Mental Health, Ollie Shannon

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The experiences of Queer people in the Intermountain-West are under- documented by the scientific community. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States. It was responsible for more than 47,500 deaths in 2019. Members of the Queer community have higher rates of suicidal ideation and attempts than the general population. Theoretically, we may predict that people experience negative mental health outcomes under situations of reduced social contact and support or during periods of exclusion by conspecifics. My research explores mental health in the Queer community utilizing data collected in an online survey during the COVID-19 pandemic. …

Assessing Population Variation Using Heritable Nonmetric Traits: A Bronze Age Assemblage From Tell Abraq, United Arab Emirates, Katie Marie Taylor

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This research investigates the use of heritable nonmetric traits as a means for assessing population variation and biological relatedness within an archaeological sample using the commingled human skeletal tomb assemblage from the Bronze Age site of Tell Abraq, United Arab Emirates (2100-2000 BCE). A total of 410 individuals representing all ages and both sexes were interred in the Umm an-Nar period tomb. An analysis of sixteen heritable nonmetric traits was conducted on the adult human skeletal remains for both cranial and postcranial elements. Of the eight elements analyzed, one element in particular displayed anomalies rarely described in archaeological contexts. Seven …

Stepfather Investment And Reproductive Outcomes Among Us Couples, Daniela Gomez

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Although paternal investment in humans is highly variable, many males invest heavily in offspring. Biological fathers invest more in children than stepfathers, yet stepfathers do invest in their stepchildren, possibly to gain mating access to the mother. Stepfathers are also more likely to be abusive and antagonistic towards their stepchildren than biological fathers. Most previous research quantifies the investment of stepfathers in relation to biological fathers. However, no studies have explored how investment and relationship quality influences reproductive outcomes for stepfathers. I examine how stepfathers’ relationship quality with stepchildren associates with stepfathers’ reproductive success (number of biological children born to …

The Influence Of Ecological Variables On Archaeological Site Density In The Owyhee Region, Southwest Idaho, Jennifer Cuthbertson

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Vegetational resources are reported to have had multiple uses in indigenous groups who were present in the Great Basin area throughout the Archaic periods. Resource acquisition and position of resources is documented to have had impacts on settlement patterns, but the impact of the range of vegetational resources, specifically, is lacking thorough study in the northern Great Basin area. Due to fluctuating climates, modern development, and other factors both anthropogenic and otherwise, Archaic vegetation ranges may not be wholly visible in the same locations today; however, the environments surrounding sites may be determined by observing a variety of ecological variables, …

Behavioral Ecology Of The Family: Harnessing Theory To Better Understand Variation In Human Families, Paula Sheppard, Kristin Snopkowski

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Researchers across the social sciences have long been interested in families. How people make decisions such as who to marry, when to have a baby, how big or small a family to have, or whether to stay with a partner or stray are questions that continue to interest economists, sociologists, demographers, and anthropologists. Human families vary across the globe; different cultures have different marriage practices, different ideas about who raises children, and even different notions of what a family is. Human behavioral ecology is a branch of anthropology that is particularly interested in cultural variation of family systems and how …

Pet Parenting In The United States: Investigating An Evolutionary Puzzle, Shelly Volsche

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Fertility rates continue to decline globally amidst the second demographic transition, marked by urbanization, increased educational attainment, and most importantly, a new flexibility in life-course organization. As a result, some individuals are choosing to bring companion animals in the home rather than raising children. Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore whether these transitions result in differential companion animal attachment and caregiving behavior in the homes of parents (or those who desire to become parents) and nonparents or childfree “pet parents.” Methods A total of 917 respondents completed an online survey via Qualtrics that included demographic questions, the …

Fertility Intentions And Outcomes In Indonesia: Evolutionary Perspectives On Sexual Conflict, Kristin Snopkowski, James Joseph Nelson

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Differential fertility preferences for men and women may provide insights into human sexual conflict. We explore whether pairbonded couples have different preferences for future offspring, which socioecological factors are associated with these preferences, and who achieves their desired fertility over time. We utilise the Indonesia Family Life Survey (IFLS), a longitudinal survey which collected data from 1993 to 2015, to compare desired future fertility for 9655 couples and follow couples who had divergent preferences. The majority of couples (64.8%) want the same number of future offspring. In 20.7% of couples, husbands want more future offspring than their wives, while the …

Community Food: A Pilot Ethnographic Study Of Local, Small-Scale, & Sustainable Agriculture In Boise, Idaho, Evan Leacox

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 revealed vulnerabilities in industrial food systems, particularly in relation to food security. In this thesis I explore small-scale, local, and ecologically sustainable forms of agriculture (Small Ag) that are frequently presented as options enabling communities to achieve increased food security. This concept of Small Ag deserves closer investigation. This thesis describes an ethnographic pilot study of Small Ag I conducted in Boise, Idaho during the 2020 pandemic. Using remote digital research methods to conduct surveys and interviews, I investigated the beliefs, motivations, and behaviors of participants in Small Ag. I sought to answer basic questions: …

Americans Adopted Fewer Pets From Shelters In 2020 As The Supply Of Rescue Animals Fell, Shelly Volsche

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Demand for new pets certainly seemed to spike when the COVID-19 pandemic reached the United States in early 2020 and forced many Americans to spend more time isolated.

But adoptions from animal shelters and rescues actually fell 17% to approximately 1.6 million in 2020 from over 1.9 million in 2019, according to Shelter Animal Counts, a nonprofit that tracks data regarding animals that spend time in shelters.

How did Americans end up welcoming fewer rescued animals into their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic? The short answer is that there weren’t enough furry friends to go around.

Decreased Cortisol Among Hikers Who Preferentially Visit And Value Biodiverse Riparian Zones, Ellie Opdahl, Kathryn Demps, Julie A. Heath

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

While outdoor recreationists often report increases to their well-being for time spent in nature, the mechanisms through which local ecologies affect human health have been difficult to quantify, and thus to manage. We combine data from pre-post salivary cortisol measures, GPS tracks, visitor photos, and surveys from 88 hikers traversing several types of landscape within peri-urban public lands in southwest Idaho, USA. We find that time in biodiverse riparian areas and areas of perceived aesthetic value correlates with decreases in salivary cortisol and improved well-being for hikers. Wildlife sightings were not associated with changes in salivary cortisol, but were associated …

The Revival Of Reindeer Herding In The North Baikal Highlands, Republic Of Buryatia, John P. Ziker

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper summarizes work with two Evenki reindeer herding collectives in the Severo-Baikal’skoe nagor’e in July, 2010. Ethnographic work with reindeer herder groups Oron and Uluki, both established in the early 1990s in the Kholodnoe community, highlighted two variations on the traditional Evenki approach to reindeer herding evincing numerous commonalities. Both groups relied on natural and human-made features of the landscape to habituate reindeer to areas where reindeer herding had been abandoned for close to 20 years. Reindeer herders and reindeer mutually determine seasonal and daily mobility patterns, and reindeer herding activities are leveraged to conduct big-game hunting and furbearer …

Tempo And Mode Of Neolithic Crop Adoption By Palaeolithic Hunter-Gatherers Of Taiwan: Ethno-Archaeological And Behavioural Ecology Perspectives, Pei-Lin Yu

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Archaeological evidence from the Early Taiwan Neolithic facilitates the development and assessment of predictive statements about habitat-related variance in the initial adoption of agriculture. This paper summarises archaeological research about Taiwan’s terminal Palaeolithic and early Neolithic periods, and derives working expectations from human behavioural ecology models of diet breadth, opportunity cost, and future discounting, as well as ethno-archaeological research. Expectations are evaluated using Lewis Binford’s hunter-gatherer database. Results allow for the prediction that selective forces during the Neolithic transition of Taiwan favoured mixed economies that varied according to the properties of the local habitat, the social and subsistence organisation of …