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Research Article

Longitudinal evidence that fatherhood decreases testosterone in human males

Lee T. Gettler, Thomas W. McDade, Alan B. Feranil, and Christopher W. Kuzawa
  1. aDepartment of Anthropology, and
  2. bCells to Society, Center on Social Disparities and Health, Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208; and
  3. cOffice of Population Studies Foundation, University of San Carlos, Cebu City 6000, Philippines

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PNAS first published September 12, 2011; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1105403108
Lee T. Gettler
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  • For correspondence: lgettler@u.northwestern.edu kuzawa@northwestern.edu
Thomas W. McDade
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Alan B. Feranil
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Christopher W. Kuzawa
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  • For correspondence: lgettler@u.northwestern.edu kuzawa@northwestern.edu
  1. Edited by A. E. Storey, Department of Psychology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NF, Canada, and accepted by the Editorial Board July 28, 2011 (received for review May 10, 2011)

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Abstract

In species in which males care for young, testosterone (T) is often high during mating periods but then declines to allow for caregiving of resulting offspring. This model may apply to human males, but past human studies of T and fatherhood have been cross-sectional, making it unclear whether fatherhood suppresses T or if men with lower T are more likely to become fathers. Here, we use a large representative study in the Philippines (n = 624) to show that among single nonfathers at baseline (2005) (21.5 ± 0.3 y), men with high waking T were more likely to become partnered fathers by the time of follow-up 4.5 y later (P < 0.05). Men who became partnered fathers then experienced large declines in waking (median: −26%) and evening (median: −34%) T, which were significantly greater than declines in single nonfathers (P < 0.001). Consistent with the hypothesis that child interaction suppresses T, fathers reporting 3 h or more of daily childcare had lower T at follow-up compared with fathers not involved in care (P < 0.05). Using longitudinal data, these findings show that T and reproductive strategy have bidirectional relationships in human males, with high T predicting subsequent mating success but then declining rapidly after men become fathers. Our findings suggest that T mediates tradeoffs between mating and parenting in humans, as seen in other species in which fathers care for young. They also highlight one likely explanation for previously observed health disparities between partnered fathers and single men.

  • challenge hypothesis
  • human evolution
  • hormones and behavior
  • paternal care
  • reproductive ecology

Footnotes

  • ↵1L.T.G. and C.W.K. contributed equally to this work.

  • 2To whom correspondence may be addressed. E-mail: lgettler{at}u.northwestern.edu or kuzawa{at}northwestern.edu.
  • Author contributions: L.T.G., A.B.F., and C.W.K. designed research; L.T.G., T.W.M., A.B.F., and C.W.K. performed research; L.T.G. and C.W.K. analyzed data; and L.T.G., T.W.M., A.B.F., and C.W.K. wrote the paper.

  • The authors declare no conflict of interest.

  • This article is a PNAS Direct Submission. A.E.S. is a guest editor invited by the Editorial Board.

  • This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1105403108/-/DCSupplemental.

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Longitudinal evidence that fatherhood decreases testosterone in human males
Lee T. Gettler, Thomas W. McDade, Alan B. Feranil, Christopher W. Kuzawa
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Sep 2011, 201105403; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1105403108

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Longitudinal evidence that fatherhood decreases testosterone in human males
Lee T. Gettler, Thomas W. McDade, Alan B. Feranil, Christopher W. Kuzawa
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Sep 2011, 201105403; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1105403108
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