Evolutionary Psychology Fails; Biblical Parenting Is Best

Drawing lessons from Jamaican
and global social science research,
we explore the value of parental
investment, contrasting conventional
paradigms in evolutionary psychology

Evolutionary Psychology Gets It Wrong:
How the Biblical Standard of Parental Investment Yields Positive Outcomes

by Dr. Sarah Buckland-Reynolds 

A July 2025 article published in Evolutionary Social Sciences made an open acknowledgement indicating historical failures of evolutionary psychology as a blueprint for societal functioning. In the words of the authors, Hopcroft and Schnettler (2025):  

“…attempts to make biological and evolutionary concepts useful for sociology failed twice in the 20th century, each time immediately after important turning points in the biology of human behavior: in the decades after Darwin’s “Origin of Species” and in the years after Wilson’s “Sociobiology…” 

Despite this admission, evolutionary psychology within the past decade continues to challenge traditional assumptions about parenting, with some researchers questioning the necessity of direct parental involvement in child development.

The Darwinian Angle

A notable example is the chapter by Bjorklund and Myers in the APA Handbook of Parenting: Biology and Ecology of Parenting, which revisits Trivers’s parental investment theory and explores evolved psychological mechanisms that may underlie neglect, abuse, and even infanticide. The authors argue that in certain ecological contexts, minimal parental investment may have been adaptive, leading to evolved behaviors that deprioritize intensive caregiving. This perspective reframes parenting  as a strategic allocation of resources instead of a moral imperative, potentially undermining the modern emphasis on parental presence and emotional bonding. Another article published in Current Opinion in Psychology within the past decade also concluded from an evolutionary perspective that “Models of parenting put too much emphasis on the nuclear family as the normative human family.” 

But, to what extent do evolutionary frameworks align with observable outcomes for positive advancement for human offspring?  

Over the past decade and a half, I have conducted research across high schools and universities in the Jamaican context, investigating how family structure and involvement correlates with behavioral, emotional, and academic outcomes. Some of this research has been presented at the Department of Government UWI Mona. In 2022, I conducted reanalysis of a cross-sectional, nationally representative dataset of Jamaican high schoolers (N=3365) using regression, independent samples t-tests and other inferential statistical techniques, published in the Caribbean Journal of Psychology. Primary research and the broader global literature focusing on measured outcomes, place the behavioural ”value” of evolutionary psychological theories into sharp question. 

 The Cost-Benefit of Parental Investment: What the Data Suggests 

In a review of evolutionary perspectives on Nesting, Parenting and Territoriality, researchers Breed and Moore explained the history and key tenets of Family Investment theory as follows: 

“…Robert Trivers brought the idea of parental investment to the forefront of evolutionary thinking about reproduction in a 1972 paper that defined parental investment as the investment that a parent makes in an offspring that reduces the parent’s future fitness…” 

Whether applied to animals or humans (recall that, to evolutionists, humans are animals), the idea that “delivering care” to one’s offspring brings evolutionary disadvantages including conflict, is one that may have serious implications if applied ‘wholesale’ to its logical conclusion.

The Results Were Compelling

Using the nationally-representative dataset, I tested the value of parental involvement and familial ‘stability’ by examining six main variables: (1) Marital status of parents, (2) With whom student lives, (3) Parents’ knowledge of where the student is, (4) Parents’ attention to school, (5) Control over what time children come home at night, and (6) How well parents know close friends. Three behavioural and academic performance proxies were examined, namely: How often the student skipped school, Reports of behavioral or discipline problems, and how well they performed in school. The results were compelling. Quoting from the publication: 

“Statistically significant higher proportions of students whose parents were more “involved” in their lives scored as having “better” overall behaviour and school performance – significant at the 99% Confidence Interval (p<0.01). This was the case for all four of the parental involvement proxies: parents’ knowledge of their child’s whereabouts after school hours and on weekends; parental attention to their children, parental control of weekend curfews; and parental knowledge of their child’s friends.” (p. 39) 

In predicting the likelihood of no behavioural or discipline problems, no truancy and relatively higher academic performance, the following was found: 

“….the most significant factors contributing to overall student behaviour and school performance were found to be marital status; parental knowledge of the location of their child after school hours and on weekends; parental attention; and parental control of the time students return home on weekends. Students with married parents were around 1.3 times more likely to have more positive behavioural and academic outcomes than those with unmarried parents (single, cohabiting, divorced, separated, widowed, or other type)…students whose parents stipulated a curfew on weekends and who almost always or always knew where their child was, were around 1.7 times more likely to also display more positive outcomes in school behaviour and academic performance than students whose parents did not… students whose parents knew where they were outside of school hours and on weekends were 1.3 times more likely to receive higher than average grades when compared to students whose parents did not know where they were outside of school hours and on weekends… Students who lived with both parents were 1.3 times more likely to have paid very close attention to their schoolwork than students who only lived with one parent or no parent.”

Other Studies Agree

These results echoed key findings from another primary study conducted, where students from single-parent homes were nearly twice as likely to exhibit disruptive behaviors (45%) compared to those from nuclear families (24%). Sixty-three percent (63%) of students from non-nuclear families reported feelings of neglect, abandonment, and inferiority. Interestingly – conflict, or maladaptive strategies—such as fighting, cursing, and social withdrawal—were more prevalent among students from single-parent homes. In contrast, students from nuclear families reported higher levels of parental encouragement, quality time, and value-based upbringing, with 72% affirming these factors positively influenced their behavior. Ironically, this directly contrasts with the evolutionary views suggesting more conflict from the Parental Investment theory) 

As a disclaimer: these findings do not suggest that children from single-parent homes cannot thrive. Rather, they affirm that the Biblical model of a stable, monogamous, heterosexual marriage provides the most conducive environment for holistic development.  

Global Echoes: Reinforcing the Jamaican Data 

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These results from sociology and psychology are not isolated. International research supports these conclusions. For decades, Princeton sociologist Sara McLanahan and Dr. David Popenoe have shown that children from single-parent homes are more likely to experience depression, delinquency, and early sexual activity. Extensive analysis of publicly accessible datasets—such as  the 2025 publication by the Heritage Foundation titled “Crossroads: American Family Life at the Intersection of Tradition and Modernity”— continues to show the flaws of applying evolutionary logic to human family systems. At the core of these flaws lies a fundamental assumption: that evolutionary drivers are purely materialistic in nature.

Evolutionary psychology often frames parenting as a resource-driven strategy molded by natural selection, rather than a moral or relational imperative. The evolutionary model also treats family dynamics as fluid, shaped by ecological pressures and reproductive strategies. In this view, the nuclear family is a historical anomaly: even viewed as a “blip in time” born of postwar economics. This perspective stands in stark contrast to the Biblical view, which sees parenting as a sacred stewardship—not a conditional investment. 

Conclusion: A Call to Reaffirm the Blueprint 

Despite evidence to the contrary, evolutionary psychology continues to shape and influence the worldviews of mainstream media and education. Yet the social sciences have spoken: decades of global research consistently show that parental “investment”—the intentional provision of care, time, and attention—correlates with more successful outcomes in children, even showing that  the most effective environment for such outcomes is found within a monogamous, heterosexual marital union. What a beautiful affirmation of the Biblical model for family life.

Therefore, let us not conform to the shifting standards of secularism, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2). In doing so, we honor our Creator, uplift the next generation, and help build a society rooted in enduring truth.

Dr. Sarah Buckland-Reynolds is a Christian, Jamaican, Environmental Science researcher, and journal associate editor. She holds the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Geography from the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona with high commendation, and a postgraduate specialization in Geomatics at the Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia. The quality of her research activity in Environmental Science has been recognized by various awards including the 2024 Editor’s Award from the American Meteorological Society for her reviewing service in the Weather, Climate and Society Journal, the 2023 L’Oreal/UNESCO Women in Science Caribbean Award, the 2023 ICETEX International Experts Exchange Award for study in Colombia. and with her PhD research in drought management also being shortlisted in the top 10 globally for the 2023 Allianz Climate Risk Award by Munich Re Insurance, Germany. Motivated by her faith in God and zeal to positively influence society, Dr. Buckland-Reynolds is also the founder and Principal Director of Chosen to G.L.O.W. Ministries, a Jamaican charitable organization which seeks to amplify the Christian voice in the public sphere and equip more youths to know how to defend their faith.