Hormonal changes among fathers and their impact on child development and relationship quality

研究表明，在一些社会中，父亲的睾丸激素水平低于没有父亲的人。进行该项目的研究人员最近的研究首次使用多年收集的数据表明，与单身和没有孩子的男性相比，婚姻生活和第一次做父亲的过渡导致睾丸素水平大幅下降。新父亲和已婚男性体内睾丸素的减少被认为是为了改善男性作为父母和配偶的功能，但这一点还没有得到彻底的测试，而且众所周知，并不是所有结婚或生孩子的男性都会经历睾丸激素的大幅下降。男性荷尔蒙反应的这种差异可能与男性在职业、社交和家庭(包括核心和远亲)生活中所扮演的角色不同有关。为了弄清这些荷尔蒙变化对行为的影响，它们在男性中的变化，以及这些荷尔蒙方面如何影响孩子的幸福感和关系质量，需要对男性和他们的家庭进行长期跟踪。这个项目将在908名男性、他们的配偶和孩子中探索这些问题，他们参与了一项在菲律宾进行的独特研究，该研究对大样本家庭进行了30年的追踪。人口统计、健康、行为和关系数据将通过对男性及其配偶的采访来收集。父母将提供孩子的幸福和发育数据，男性的睾丸素将在唾液样本中进行测量。通过将荷尔蒙水平与男性家庭、职业和社会行为的详细报告相关联，并与儿童幸福和家庭关系相关的结果进行比较，这项研究将有助于澄清男性生物学对家庭功能的重要性。该项目还通过对人类父亲/婚姻行为多样性的范围及其与男性荷尔蒙特征的关系的重要见解，扩大了对个人之间和不同文化群体之间行为和生物学差异的理解。为了实现这些目标，该项目将是西北大学人类生物学研究生/本科生综合培训计划的核心，并将广泛和积极地影响美国和菲律宾学者和大学之间富有成效的国际科学合作。

Research has shown that in some societies fathers have lower testosterone levels than non-fathers. Recent research by the investigators conducting this project was the first to use data collected over multiple years to show that it is the transition to married life and first-time fatherhood which causes large declines in testosterone, compared to if men remain single and childless. These decreases in testosterone in new fathers and married men have been hypothesized to improve men's functioning as parents and spouses, but this has yet to be thoroughly tested, and it is known that not all men who become married or have children experience substantial decreases in testosterone. This variation across men in their hormonal responses might be linked to differences in mens roles across professional, social, and familial (including nuclear and extended kin) lives. To clarify the behavioral effects of these hormonal changes, their variation across men, and how these hormonal aspects impact child well-being and relationship quality requires that men and their families be followed through time. This project will explore these questions among 908 men, their spouses, and children participating in a unique study in the Philippines that has followed a large sample of families for 30 years. Demographic, health, behavioral, and relationship data will be collected through interviews with men and their spouses. Parents will provide child well-being and development data, and men's testosterone will be measured in saliva samples. By correlating hormone levels with detailed reports of men's familial, professional, and social behaviors and comparing with outcomes related to child well-being and family relationships, this study will help clarify the importance of men's biology to the functioning of families. This project also expands understanding of the ways in which behavior and biology differ between individuals and across cultural groups by contributing important insights into the range of human diversity in fathering/marital behaviors and their relationships to male hormonal profiles. In achieving these goals, the project will be central to an integrative graduate/undergraduate training program in human biology at Northwestern University, and will broadly and positively impact productive international scientific collaboration between scholars and universities in the United States and the Philippines.