This collection is the first to specifically address our current understanding of the evolution of human childhood, which in turn significantly affects our interpretations of the evolution of family formation, social organization, cultural transmission, cognition, ontogeny, and the physical and socioemotional needs of children. Courtney L. Meehan is an associate professor of anthropology at Washington State University. She is a contributor to Attachment Reconsidered: Cultural Perspectives on a Western Theory and Different Faces of Attachment: Cultural Variations of a Universal Human Need . Alyssa N. Crittenden is a Lincy Foundation assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She is a contributor to Attachment Reconsidered: Cultural Perspectives on a Western Theory and the forthcoming The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology .