Abstract: Even though a great deal of mainstream developmental psychology is devoted to understanding whether and how experiences in childhood shape psychological and behavioural development later in life, little theoretical attention has been paid to why such cross-time influences should characterize human development. This is especially true with respect to the well-studied determinants of mating, pair bonding and parenting. Theoretically, Draper and Harpending (1982), Belsky et al. (1991), Ellis (2004) and Chisholm (1996) have all addressed this lacuna, stimulating research on linkages between childhood experience and reproductive strategy, which is summarised in this paper. Concern for experiential effects on pubertal timing distinguishes this line of inquiry from more traditional developmental studies because an evolutionary perspective suggests that experiences in the family might affect somatic development. Fifteen years since BSD advanced their “uncanny” prediction, it seems clear that this pubertal timing, at least in females, is related to selected aspects of early family experience (Ellis, 2004)

Key words: developmental psychology, pubertal timing, evolutionary perspective