User talk:Clawsbet/sandbox

Peer Review by (Iridium.iodine.sulfur (talk) 18:38, 24 November 2018 (UTC))

Fatherhood also decreases testosterone levels in men, suggesting that the resulting emotional and behavioral changes promote paternal care. The way testosterone levels change when a child is in distress is indicative of fathering styles. If the levels reduce, then there is more empathy by the father than in fathers whose levels go up.

- This is the existing text in the article, do you plan on leaving it in? If you retain some of this information I would take a close look at the last two sentences and reword them to use more neutral and scientific language and clearly explain the science behind different parental strategies and their effects on male testosterone levels. It's useful information but the existing language is problematic.

In humans and other species that utilize allomaternal care, paternal investment in offspring is beneficial to said offspring's survival since it allows the parental dyad to raise multiple children simultaneously. This is particularly beneficial for humans since offspring are dependent for extended periods of time but mothers have relatively short interbirth intervals (Kramer).

- This is clearly written and I like that you include all species since paternal care is not unique to humans only. How might paternal investment benefit the offspring in other ways, besides allowing for multiple children to be raised simultaneously? Is resource allocation/availability also positively impacted by paternal investment? These seem like linked concepts. It might be good to say WHY paternal investment allows for multiple children/shorter interbirth intervals and how this has a positive effect on overall fertility, which is why it would have been selected for in human evolution.

Increased testosterone levels in fathers have been shown to increase their volatility, unreliability, and/or aggressiveness. These traits increase likelihood of mating but decrease quality of paternal offspring care, either through direct aggression towards infants or using energy to mate with other females instead of investing in infant care.

- Can you cite the claim that increased testosterone levels have those specific effects? - Can you elaborate on how increased testosterone decreases the likelihood of paternal investment?

There appears to - EDIT: "appears to be" - a decrease in testosterone during the transition to fatherhood, which may indicate a shift from high T levels associated with mating behaviors to the low T levels associated with nurturing behaviors, such as grooming and carrying (Perini).

- at what point in the transition to fatherhood do testosterone levels drop? Is this unique to humans or seen in other species too?

While extent of paternal care varies between cultures, higher investment in direct child care is correlated with lower testosterone levels (Gettler). This has been demonstrated in various ways. For instance, the way testosterone levels change when a child is in distress is indicative of fathering styles. If the levels reduce, then there is more empathy by the father than in fathers whose levels go up (Parenting Skills).

(Iridium.iodine.sulfur (talk) 18:38, 24 November 2018 (UTC))

-Thank you so much for these edits! I will be changing things to clarify and expand based on these suggestions. Clawsbet (talk) 21:15, 28 November 2018 (UTC)