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Fatherhood and psychobiology in the Philippines: Perspectives on joint profiles and longitudinal changes of fathers' estradiol and testosterone
Author(s) -
Gettler Lee T.,
Kuo Patty X.,
Bechayda Sonny Agustin
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
american journal of human biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.559
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1520-6300
pISSN - 1042-0533
DOI - 10.1002/ajhb.23150
Subject(s) - prolactin , testosterone (patch) , behavioral neuroscience , longitudinal study , psychology , demography , psychosocial , morning , developmental psychology , endocrinology , cohort , hormone , medicine , physiology , psychiatry , sociology , pathology
Objectives Research on the psychobiology of partnering and fathering has focused on testosterone (T), oxytocin, and prolactin (PRL) as mechanisms that potentially mediate life history trade‐offs related to those roles. Less is known about other hormones that might be responsive to life history transitions and implicated in fathering, such as estradiol (E2). We examined how E2 changed during the transition to marriage and fatherhood, its correlation with fathers' caregiving, and its joint within‐individual production with other hormones (T, PRL). Methods Data were collected from a total of 913 Filipino men (aged 25.9 years ± 0.3 SD at follow‐up) enrolled in a longitudinal cohort study. Morning saliva samples collected at baseline (2005) and follow‐up (2009) were assayed for T and E2 ( n = 329), dried blood spots from baseline were assayed for PRL. Fathers reported on caregiving in 2009. Results When compared with men who remained single non‐fathers over the study period, men who became married residential fathers experienced larger declines in E2. This effect was non‐significant when we controlled for longitudinal changes in T. E2 was not significantly related to fathers' caregiving, controlling for T. In cross‐sectional analyses for PRL, T, and E2, married residential fathers exhibited within‐individual profiles of reduced T and elevated PRL, whereas single non‐fathers exhibited the opposite profile of elevated T and reduced PRL. Conclusions Our findings point to the need for future research to consider the mutually regulatory dynamics and/or combinatorial implications of multiple physiological axes acting within individuals to underpin life history trade‐offs and behavioral strategies.