Being a dad comes naturally.Men's hormone concentrations shift significantly throughout the course of their wives' pregnancies and after the baby is born, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a small, new study. While the study's research team didn't monitor parenting behaviors, animal studies indicate that hormones affect a male's willingness to take care of his offspring, says lead researcher Katherine E. Wynne-Edwards of Queen's University Queen's University, at Kingston, Ont., Canada; nondenominational; coeducational; founded 1841 as Queen's College. It achieved university status in 1912. It has faculties of arts and sciences, education, law, medicine, and applied science, as well as schools of in Kingston, Ontario Kingston, Ontario, is a Canadian city located at the eastern end of Lake Ontario, where the lake runs into the St. Lawrence River and the Thousand Islands begin. Kingston is the county seat of Frontenac County. . Wynne-Edwards found that concentrations of the male sex hormone sex hormone n. Any of various steroid hormones, such as estrogen and androgen, affecting the growth or function of the reproductive organs and the development of secondary sex characteristics. testosterone in saliva were, on average, significantly lower in 13 first-time, expectant fathers compared with 14 childless guys. Testosterone concentrations began to rise in the dads soon after their wives gave birth, she says, but remained lower than those in the men who did not have children. More soon-to-be dads had detectable amounts of estrogen, a female sex hormone, in their saliva than did men whose partners were not expecting, she reports. Estrogen concentrations rose after the birth of their children, Wynne-Edwards says. The men in the study spat into test tubes at the same time every day. The researchers collected the vials and analyzed the contents for testosterone, estrogen, and cortisol cortisol (kôr`tĭsôl') or hydrocortisone, steroid hormone that in humans is the major circulating hormone of the cortex, or outer layer, of the adrenal gland. , a stress hormone Stress hormones such as cortisol and norepinephrine are released at periods of high stress. The hormone regulating system is known as the endocrine system. Cortisol is believed to affect the metabolic system and norepinephrine is believed to play a role in ADHD . Cortisol concentrations were lower in expectant dads than in the other men and did not change after the birth. Fluctuations in hormone concentrations may trigger behavioral change, Wynne-Edwards says, but changes in behavior also lead to changes in hormone concentrations. She plans to explore this link by studying hampsters, a species in which low testosterone concentrations have already been linked with normal parental behaviors. |
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