Maternal grandparents more likely to go extra mile

London, Dec 21 (UNI) Maternal grandparents are more likely than paternal grandparents to go an extra mile to meet their kin, a study reveals.

The study confirms that evolution by natural selection has shaped us to mistrust paternity, so that family members related through their mothers are predicted to matter more to each other than those related through their fathers.

Thomas Pollet and colleagues at Newcastle University and the University of Antwerp, Belgium, have shown this in a study that confirms that maternal grandparents were more likely to visit during celebrations.

It shows that maternal grandparents were willing to travel further than paternal grandparents in order to sustain frequent contact with their grandchildren than paternal grandparents, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Mr Pollet states the reason for this, saying,''We believe there are psychological mechanisms at play because throughout history, women are always related by maternity whereas men can never be wholly certain they are the biological father to their children.'' Other studies came to related conclusions: we tend to help cousins on our mother's side more than cousins on our father's. And aunts and uncles on the mother's side have been found to invest more in nieces and nephews than aunts and uncles on the father's.

UNI