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非父亲。主持这个项目的调查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，进入婚姻生活和第一次成为父亲的男性会导致睾丸激素水平大幅下降。新父亲和已婚男性睾酮水平的下降被认为可以改善男性作为父母和配偶的功能，但这还有待彻底的测试，而且众所周知，并不是所有结婚或有孩子的男性睾酮水平都大幅下降。男性荷尔蒙反应的差异可能与男性在职业、社会和家庭（包括核心亲属和延伸亲属）生活中的角色差异有关。为了弄清这些激素变化对行为的影响，它们在男性之间的差异，以及这些激素方面如何影响儿童福祉和关系质量，需要对男性及其家庭进行长期跟踪。这个项目将在908名男性、他们的配偶和孩子中探讨这些问题，这些人参加了菲律宾的一项独特的研究，该研究对大量家庭进行了30年的跟踪调查。将通过与男性及其配偶的访谈收集人口统计、健康、行为和关系数据。父母将提供孩子的健康和发展数据，男性的睾丸激素将通过唾液样本进行测量。通过将激素水平与男性家庭、职业和社会行为的详细报告相关联，并将其与儿童福祉和家庭关系相关的结果进行比较，本研究将有助于阐明男性生物学对家庭功能的重要性。该项目还通过对父亲/婚姻行为的人类多样性及其与男性荷尔蒙水平的关系提供重要见解，扩展了对个体和文化群体之间行为和生物学差异方式的理解。为了实现这些目标，该项目将成为西北大学人类生物学研究生/本科生综合培训计划的核心，并将广泛而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.