Abstract Drawing on the logical principles of life-history theory, it may be hypothesized that—compared to pre-menopausal women—post-menopausal women will spend more time caring for grandchildren and other kin. This hypothesis was tested in two studies, on results obtained from two large datasets documenting altruistic behaviors of pre-menopausal and post-menopausal women in the United States (n = 7161) and Australia (N = 25,066). Results from both studies revealed that (even when controlling statistically for age, health, financial resources, and other pertinent variables), post-menopausal women devoted more time to grandparental caregiving. This effect was specific to kin care: Menopause status was not as strongly related to a measure of non-kin-directed altruistic behavior (time spent volunteering). These results provide the first empirical support for a previously-untested behavioral implication of menopause.

中文翻译：

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绝经后妇女是否为亲属提供更多照顾？：来自两项大规模全国调查的祖父母照顾证据

摘要 根据生命史理论的逻辑原理，可以假设——与绝经前的女性相比，绝经后的女性会花更多的时间照顾孙子和其他亲属。该假设在两项研究中得到验证，结果来自两个大型数据集，这些数据集记录了美国（n = 7161）和澳大利亚（N = 25,066）的绝经前和绝经后妇女的利他行为。两项研究的结果都表明（即使对年龄、健康、财务资源和其他相关变量进行统计控制），绝经后妇女将更多时间用于照顾祖父母。这种影响特定于亲属护理：更年期状态与非亲属导向的利他行为（志愿服务的时间）的测量没有那么强的相关性。