User:Clawsbet/sandbox

Fatherhood[edit]
Fatherhood decreases testosterone levels in men, suggesting that the emotions and behavior tied to decreased testosterone promote paternal care. In humans and other species that utilize allomaternal care, paternal investment in offspring is beneficial to said offspring's survival because it allows the parental dyad to raise multiple children simultaneously. This increases the reproductive fitness of the parents, because their offspring are more likely to survive and reproduce. Paternal care increases offspring survival due to increased access to higher quality food and reduced physical and immunological threats. This is particularly beneficial for humans since offspring are dependent on parents for extended periods of time and mothers have relatively short inter-birth intervals, meaning that multiple offspring are dependent at the same time. Increased testosterone levels in fathers have been shown to increase likelihood of mating but decrease quality of paternal offspring care, as they are more likely to expend energy competing with other males for social dominance or mating with other females, rather than investing in child care. The decrease in testosterone occurs during the transition from non-father to father, as measured from four weeks pre-birth to eight weeks post-birth. This may indicate a shift from high T levels which are associated with mating behaviors to the low T levels associated with nurturing behaviors. Nurturing behaviors consists of activities such as grooming and carrying infants. While extent of paternal care varies between cultures, higher investment in direct child care has been seen to be correlated with lower average testosterone levels as well as temporary fluctuations. For instance, fluctuation in testosterone levels when a child is in distress has been found to be indicative of fathering styles. If a father's testosterone levels decrease in response to hearing their baby cry, it is an indication of empathizing with the baby. This is associated with increased nurturing behavior and better outcomes for the infant .