Does cosleeping contribute to lower testosterone levels in fathers? Evidence from the Philippines

Because cross-species evidence suggests that high testosterone (T) may interfere with paternal investment, the relationships between men's transition to parenting and changes in their T are of growing interest. Studies of human males suggest that fathers who provide childcare often have lower T...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2012-09, Vol.7 (9), p.e41559-e41559
Main Authors: Gettler, Lee T, McKenna, James J, McDade, Thomas W, Agustin, Sonny S, Kuzawa, Christopher W
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Babies
Behavior
Biology
Caregivers
Child care
Children
Children & youth
Co-sleeping
Competition
Diurnal
Endocrinology
Evening
Fatherhood
Fathers
Genetic crosses
Health Surveys
Hormones
Humans
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Male
Males
Mammals
Medicine
Men
Mens health
Mothers
Musculoskeletal system
Offspring
Parenting
Parents & parenting
Paternal Behavior
Personality
Philippines
Physiology
Rural Population
Saliva - metabolism
Sleep
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Society
Surveys and Questionnaires
Testosterone
Testosterone - biosynthesis
Urban Population
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Summary:Because cross-species evidence suggests that high testosterone (T) may interfere with paternal investment, the relationships between men's transition to parenting and changes in their T are of growing interest. Studies of human males suggest that fathers who provide childcare often have lower T than uninvolved fathers, but no studies to date have evaluated how nighttime sleep proximity between fathers and their offspring may affect T. Using data collected in 2005 and 2009 from a sample of men (n = 362; age 26.0 ± 0.3 years in 2009) residing in metropolitan Cebu, Philippines, we evaluated fathers' T based on whether they slept on the same surface as their children (same surface cosleepers), slept on a different surface but in the same room (roomsharers), or slept separately from their children (solitary sleepers). A large majority (92%) of fathers in this sample reported practicing same surface cosleeping. Compared to fathers who slept solitarily, same surface cosleeping fathers had significantly lower evening (PM) T and also showed a greater diurnal decline in T from waking to evening (both p
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0041559