| Fatherhood 'causes fall in level of testosterone'(telegraph)
 Updated: 2005-11-09 17:24
 
 Fathers have lower levels of the male sex hormone than single men, according 
to evidence published today.
 
 As well as revealing how levels of testosterone fall as a result of human 
"pair bonding", the study suggests that, when a marriage is not going well, men 
tend to have higher levels of the hormone, which has been linked to aggression, 
assertiveness and the drive to seek out women for sex. 
 Previous studies in America have shown that the levels of the hormone are 
lower when a man marries and has children, presumably to improve relationships 
with a long term mate and their offspring.
 To see if this is a universal feature of male behaviour, and whether high 
levels can show if a marriage is in trouble, Dr Peter Gray from the University 
of Nevada, Las Vegas, and colleagues at Harvard studied men in Beijing.
 For the study, published today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, 
Biological Sciences, 126 men (66 unmarried, 30 married non-fathers, 30 married 
fathers) were drawn from a Chinese university community between the ages of 21 
and 38. 
 The fathers had significantly lower testosterone levels in their saliva than 
unmarried men, the team reports, adding that this was the first time this effect 
had been seen outside America.
 The team also found that in married men without children, a higher level of 
testosterone was linked with a lower level of satisfaction with the 
marriage.
 
 
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