Abstract：
Across vertebrates, testosterone is an important mediator of reproductive trade-offs, shaping how energy and time are devoted to parenting versus mating/competition. Based on early environments, organisms often calibrate adult hormone production to adjust reproductive strategies. For example, favorable early nutrition predicts higher adult male testosterone in humans, and animal models show that developmental social environments can affect adult testosterone. In humans, fathers’ testosterone often declines with caregiving, yet these patterns vary within and across populations. This may partially trace to early social environments, including caregiving styles and family relationships, which could have formative effects on testosterone production and parenting behaviors. Using data from a multidecade study in the Philippines (n = 966), we tested whether sons’ developmental experiences with their fathers predicted their adult testosterone profiles, including after they became fathers themselves. Sons had lower testosterone as parents if their own fathers lived with them and were involved in childcare during adolescence. We also found a contributing role for adolescent father–son relationships: sons had lower waking testosterone, before and after becoming fathers, if they credited their own fathers with their upbringing and resided with them as adolescents. These findings were not accounted for by the sons’ own parenting and partnering behaviors, which could influence their testosterone. These effects were limited to adolescence: sons’ infancy or childhood experiences did not predict their testosterone as fathers. Our findings link adolescent family experiences to adult testosterone, pointing to a potential pathway related to the intergenerational transmission of biological and behavioral components of reproductive strategies.
摘要：
在脊椎动物中，睾酮是生殖权衡的重要中介，塑造如何将精力和时间投入到育儿与交配/竞争中。基于早期环境，生物体经常校准成人激素的产生以调整生殖策略。例如,良好的早期营养预测人类成年男性睾酮水平较高，动物模型表明，发育的社会环境可以影响成人的睾丸激素。在人类中,父亲的睾丸激素经常随着照顾而下降，然而，这些模式在人群内部和人群之间有所不同。这可能部分可以追溯到早期的社会环境，包括照顾方式和家庭关系，这可能会对睾丸激素的产生和育儿行为产生影响。使用来自菲律宾的数十年研究的数据(n=966)，我们测试了儿子与父亲的发展经历是否可以预测他们成年时的睾丸激素分布，包括他们自己成为父亲之后。如果他们自己的父亲与他们生活在一起，并且在青春期参与育儿，那么儿子作为父母的睾丸激素较低。我们还发现了青少年父子关系的重要作用：儿子清醒时的睾丸激素较低，在成为父亲之前和之后，如果他们将自己的父亲与他们的成长归功于自己，并与他们一起生活在青少年时期。这些发现并不是儿子们自己的育儿和伴侣行为造成的，这可能会影响他们的睾丸激素。这些影响仅限于青春期：儿子的婴儿期或童年经历并不能预测他们作为父亲的睾丸激素。我们的发现将青少年家庭经历与成人睾丸激素联系起来，指出与生殖策略的生物学和行为成分的代际传播有关的潜在途径。
