SoS 224: Dr. John Shaver navigates religiosity, fertility, and family support

Co-Hosts Chris Lynn and Anahí Ruderman talk abot how religion impacts fertility and maternal and child health with Dr. John Shaver, a biocultural and evolutionary anthropologist in the Department of Anthropology at Baylor University. Most of his work to date has focused on understanding cultural variation in solutions to collective action and collective resource problems, and how these solutions may impact health and well-being. This research has involved fieldwork in Fiji, The Gambia, Mauritius, New Zealand, and the United States. His work is interdisciplinary and has been published in anthropology, biology, neuroscience, religion, psychology and general science journals. He is a co-editor of Religion, Brain & Behavior, a journal dedicated to the biological study of religion. ------------------------------ Find the paper discussed in this episode: Shaver, J. H., Chvaja, R., Spake, L., Hassan, A., Badjie, J., Prentice, A. M., Cerami, C., Sear, R., Shenk, M. K., & Sosis, R. (2024). Religious Involvement Is Associated With Higher Fertility and Lower Maternal Investment, but More Alloparental Support Among Gambian Mothers. American journal of human biology, https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.24144 ------------------------------ Contact Dr. John Shaver: John_Shaver@baylor.edu ------------------------------ Contact the Sausage of Science Podcast and Human Biology Association: Facebook: facebook.com/groups/humanbiologyassociation/, Website: humbio.org, Twitter: @HumBioAssoc Chris Lynn, Co-Host Website: cdlynn.people.ua.edu/, E-mail: cdlynn@ua.edu, Twitter:@Chris_Ly Anahi Ruderman, SoS Co-Producer, HBA Junior Fellow Twitter: @ani_ruderman, E-mail: aniruderman@gmail.com Courtney Manthey, Co-Host, Website: holylaetoli.com/ E-mail: cpierce4@uccs.edu, Twitter: @HolyLaetoli Cristina Gildee, Co-Host, HBA Junior Fellow, SoS producer, Website: cristinagildee.org, E-mail: cgildee@uw.edu, Twitter:@CristinaGildee Cara Ocobock, Co-Host, Website: sites.nd.edu/cara-ocobock/, Email:cocobock@nd.edu, Twitter:@CaraOcobock