Testosterone is Associated with Perceived Constraint in Early Fatherhood

Abstract

Paternal care is facilitated by a decline in testosterone levels following the transition to fatherhood. This process is considered to mediate a trade-off between mating and parenting, which may allow fathers to focus future resources on childcare activities. Previous studies revealed associations between testosterone levels and direct paternal care, but its relation to fathers’ subjective appraisal of the paternal role is still unknown. This cross-sectional study investigates associations between salivary testosterone concentrations and satisfaction with the father role measured by perceived constraint and enrichment due to fatherhood during child development until adolescence. A sample of 182 healthy fathers of various ages (M = 38.93, range: 25–62) with at least one child under the age of 18 was considered for this analysis. All subjects had biological children with their current partner/spouse only and lived in the same household with their partner/spouse and offspring. The presented data demonstrate that testosterone levels are positively associated with perceived constraint due to fatherhood, but only in fathers with young children. These findings suggest that high testosterone levels could temporarily be contradictory to paternal role satisfaction, due to potential role conflicts, while low testosterone may buffer some of the constraining aspects of caring for young children. Alternatively, these findings could indicate that less convinced fathers might maintain higher T levels across the whole period of fatherhood as a consequence of lower psychological role commitment.