Brooke Scelza
Brooke Scelza
Professor & Vice Chair of Graduate Studies
Office: 396 Haines Hall
Email: bscelza@anthro.ucla.edu
Biography
I am a human behavioral ecologist interested in understanding the adaptive nature of behavior as a function of local socioecological context. My research focuses on a variety of questions related to reproductive decision-making, marital and nonmarital relationships, and parental investment. For the last 15 years I have co-directed the Kunene Rural Health and Demography Project in northwest Namibia, where our work has focused on understanding how family dynamics affect health and well-being. Increasingly, as the population I work with is undergoing rapid market integration, I am also interested in understanding how these changes affect access and use of the healthcare system, as well as beliefs and norms about birth and perinatal care. This work has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the Wenner Gren Foundation, as well as a Fulbright Award.
Research Interests
Human behavioral ecology, life history theory, reproductive ecology, maternal and child health
Publications
Scelza, B.A. (2024) The cuckoldry conundrum. Evolutionary Anthropology, 33(3): e22023
Koster, J., Scelza, B.A., Shenk, M.K. (2024) Human Behavioral Ecology. Cambridge University Press.
Prall, S., Scelza, B.A., Davis, H. (2024) Medical mistrust, discrimination and healthcare experiences in a rural Namibian community. Global Public Health
Fox, S., Scelza, B.A., Silk, J., Kramer, K. (2023) New perspectives on the evolution of women’s cooperation. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 378(1878):20210424
Scelza, B.A. et al. (2020) High rate of extra-pair paternity in a human population demonstrates diversity in reproductive strategies. Science Advances 6(8):eaay6195
Scelza, B.A. et al. (2020) Patterns of paternal investment predict cross-cultural variation in jealous response. Nature Human Behavior 4(1):20-26
Scelza, B.A., Hinde, K. Crucial contributions: a biocultural study of grandmothering during the perinatal period. Human Nature 30(4):371-397
Scelza, B.A. (2013) Choosy but not chaste: multiple mating in human females. Evolutionary Anthropology, 22:259-269.
Scelza, B.A. (2011) The place of proximity: social support in mother-adult daughter relationships. Human Nature.22(1):108-127.
Brooke Scelza (2010). Father’s presence speeds the social and reproductive careers of sons. Current Anthropology. 51(2):295-303
