高安罗汉黄海冰:有研究表明，为人父，则激素降低

2011年9月12日

In Study, Fatherhood Leads to Drop in Testosterone

据有关研究：有为人父，则激素降

By PAM BELLUCK

帕姆.贝鲁克

This is probably not the news most fathers want to hear. 

这则消息可能并不是父亲们所想听到的。

Testosterone, that most male of hormones, takes a dive after a man becomes a parent. And the more he gets involved in caring for his children — changing diapers, jiggling the boy or girl on his knee, reading “Goodnight Moon” for the umpteenth time — the lower his testosterone drops. 

睾丸激素是最大多数的雄性激素，当男子成为了父亲，激素也将随之降低。之后，随着逐渐降低的睾丸激素的分泌，他们大多数都会悉心照料他们的孩子--换尿布，逗弄着坐在他膝上的男女孩，一遍又一遍的讲着“晚安，月亮”。

So says the first large study measuring testosterone in men when they were single and childless and several years after they had children. Experts say the research has implications for understanding the biology of fatherhood, hormone roles in men and even health issues like prostate cancer. 

故此，首次主要是对单身、尚无孩子及很多年没有与孩子相聚的男子们的激素进行研究。专家们表示这一研究可揭示对父亲、单身男性荷尔蒙的生理状况的认识及健康保健，比如前列腺癌。

“The real take-home message,” said Peter Ellison, a professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard who was not involved in the study, is that “male parental care is important. It’s important enough that it’s actually shaped the physiology of men.” 

未参加此次研究的哈弗大学人类进化生物教授，皮特.爱丽舍，表示，“父爱至深，这足矣显示男性生理的形成何其重要”。

“Unfortunately,” Dr. Ellison added, “I think American males have been brainwashed” to believe lower testosterone means that “maybe you’re a wimp, that it’s because you’re not really a man. 

爱丽舍博士又补充道，“很可惜，我认为一直以来美国男性被洗了脑”，认为偏低的睾丸激素意味着“可能，你是一个没有用的人，这是因为你已经不是一个真正的男人了。”

“My hope would be that this kind of research has an impact on the American male. It would make them realize that we’re meant to be active fathers and participate in the care of our offspring.” 

“我的希望是，这类的研究能对美国男性们有些改变。这将让他们了解我们所谓的为父之人，就要参与关爱我们的后代。”

The study, experts say, suggests that men’s bodies evolved hormonal systems that helped them commit to their families once children were born. It also suggests that men’s behavior can affect hormonal signals their bodies send, not just that hormones influence behavior. And, experts say, it underscores that mothers were meant to have child care help. 

在研究中，专家们表示，确定那个男性的身体进化的激素系统，当他们的孩子降临人世的时候，能有助于他们将自己置身于他们的家庭成员之中。这也能解释男人的行为举止能影响他们体内荷尔蒙的分泌，而非仅仅只是荷尔蒙影响着行为。同时，专家们说，这也凸显出妈妈们是需要儿童护理协助的。

“This is part of the guy being invested in the marriage,” said Carol Worthman, an anthropologist at Emory University who also was not involved in the study. Lower testosterone, she said, is the father’s way of saying, “ ‘I’m here, I’m not looking around, I’m really toning things down so I can have good relationships.’ What’s great about this study is it lays it on the table that more is not always better. Faster, bigger, stronger — no, not always.” 

也未参加此次研究的艾莫里大学人类学家，凯罗.沃斯曼，表示“这将是踏入婚姻中的先生们索要承担的一部分”。 她认为，较低水平的睾丸激素的父亲会是这么说的，“我在这儿，我可是不随便看看，实际上我抓住了每件事，所以我能有好的关系。’这可要比当下讨论研究的那些不尽如人意的重要。 更快，更大，更壮-不，可不能总这样。”

Experts said the study was a significant contribution to hormone research because it tested men before and after becoming fathers and involved many participants: 600 men in the Cebu Province of the Philippines who are participating in a larger, well-respected health study following babies who were born in 1983 and 1984. 

专家们表示此项研究对激素研究有着巨大的贡献，因为这测试的是成为父亲前后的男子，同时有着众多的参与者：生活在菲律宾的宿务市的600名男子，他们同时也正接受一个更大规模，颇全面的健康研究，且他们的孩子都在1983年和1984年出生。

Testosterone was measured when the men were 21 and single, and again nearly five years later. Although testosterone naturally decreases with age, men who became fathers showed much greater declines, more than double that of the childless men. 

21岁的男子或依旧单身，或再婚5年后的睾丸激素已经过检测。 虽然睾丸激素随着年龄而降低，成为父亲的男性则会出现更大的降幅，比那些依旧童子之身的要减少两倍之多。            

And men who spent more than three hours a day caring for children — playing, feeding, bathing, toileting, reading or dressing them — had the lowest testosterone. 

而男子会分出每天三小时多的时光来照料孩子们-在嬉戏，喂食，洗澡，个人卫生，阅读或给他们穿衣服的时候，他们的睾丸激素水平是最低的。

“It could almost be demonized, like, ‘Oh my God, fathers, don’t take care of your kids because your testosterone will drop way down,’ ” said Lee Gettler, an anthropologist at Northwestern University and co-author of the study, published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “But this should be viewed as, ‘Oh it’s great, women aren’t the only ones biologically adapted to be parents.’ 

西北大学人类学家，美国科学院院报的研究及发行的编辑之一，李.哥特勒说，“这确实让人惊奇，这像是在说，‘哦，我的天，老爸们别照料你们的孩子了，因为你们的睾丸激素将会骤降的。’，但这将被看为，‘哦，这很好，在生物学上，女性不是唯一适合照料孩子的人”

“Humans give birth to incredibly dependent infants. Historically, the idea that men were out clubbing large animals and women were staying behind with babies has been largely discredited. The only way mothers could have highly needy offspring every couple of years is if they were getting help.” 

“人类初生是极其依赖婴儿的，从历史上看，这一观点有着很多疑点，男子可以自由出他们入在酒吧，而女性则是要守在小孩身后。只有如此，每隔几年如果她们得到帮助，母亲们会更需要后代。

Smaller studies, measuring just snapshots in time, found fathers have lower testosterone, but they could not establish whether fatherhood brought testosterone down or lower-testosterone men were just more likely to become fathers. 

在较小规模的研究中，只是确认单一的时间，发现父亲们有较低的睾丸激素，但是他们不能确定 成为了父亲是否能引起睾丸激素下降，或者较低的睾丸激素的男性更易成为父亲。

In the new study, said Christopher Kuzawa, a co-author and Northwestern anthropologist, having higher testosterone to start with “actually predicted that they’re more likely to become fathers,” possibly because men with higher testosterone were more assertive in competing for women or appeared healthier and more attractive. But regardless of initial testosterone level, after having children, the hormone plummeted. 

在新的研究之中，克里斯多夫.库扎瓦，西北大学人类学家兼编辑，则表示，较高的睾丸激素可以引起“实际上可以看出，他们更希望成为父亲”的状况，也许，因为有较高睾丸激素水平的男子能对竞争伴侣更为自信，显得更健康，同时也更有吸引力。但是无论睾丸激素的初期水平如何，有了孩子之后，激素水平会一落千丈。

Scientists say this suggests a biological trade-off, with high testosterone helping secure a mate, but reduced testosterone better for sustaining family life. 

科学家们表示，这更像是一种生态平衡，较高睾丸激素有助于找到一个伴侣，但转而较低的睾丸激素则更好的营造一个家庭生活。

“A dad with lower testosterone is maybe a little more sensitive to cues from his child, and maybe he’s a little less sensitive to cues from a woman he meets at a restaurant,” said Peter Gray, an anthropologist at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, who has conducted unrelated research on testosterone in fathers. 

未对这些父亲们进行关于睾丸激素研究的路易斯安那州，内华达大学人类学家，皮特.格雷认为，“一个有这较低睾丸激素的父亲能够更加悉心的照料他们的孩子，同时他们可能对在餐馆相遇的女性也少了一份注意。”

The study did not examine specific effects on men’s behavior, like whether those with smaller drops in testosterone were more likely to be neglectful or aggressive. It also did not examine the roles played by other hormones or whether factors like stress or sleeplessness contributed to a decline in testosterone. 

这个研究并不是测试在这些对男性行为的特殊影响，无论那些伴着睾丸激素水平的略微下降更像是否忽略，或有干劲儿。这也不是测试其他激素或其他因素，如压力，失眠在降低睾丸激素中所起到的作用。

Other studies have suggested, though not as definitively, that behavior and relationships affect testosterone levels. A study of Air Force veterans showed that testosterone climbed back up after men were divorced. A study of Harvard Business School students found that those in committed romantic relationships had lower testosterone than those who were not. Another study found that fathers in a Tanzanian group known for involved parenting had low testosterone, while those from a neighboring culture without active fathering did not. 

其他的研究则认为，虽然没有最后结论，但是那些行为和人际关系影响着激素水平。一个对于空军老兵的研究显示，在男子离异后，睾丸激素的水平又会回升。一个对哈弗大学商学院的学生的研究发现那些坠入爱河的学生的睾丸激素水平要比那些没有坠入爱河的学生要低。其他的研究则发现，在坦桑尼亚一组中的父亲更乐于参与对孩子的教育，他们的激素水平比较低，同时那些其他相近文化的测试组中则没有这样积极为父的行为。

Similar results have been found in birds and in mammals like marmosets, said Toni Ziegler, a senior scientist at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center. 

威斯康星州国家灵长类动物研究中心资深科学家，托尼.齐格勒表示，相似的结论也在鸟类和哺乳类中被发现，如狨属。

Experts say the new testosterone study could offer insight into men’s medical conditions, particularly prostate cancer. Higher lifetime testosterone levels increase the risk of prostate cancer, just as higher estrogen exposure increases breast cancer risk. 

专家们说，新的睾丸激素研究对于男性医药状况，提供新的角度，特别是前列腺癌。一直保持要高的睾丸激素水平会增加患前列腺癌的风险，正如较高的雌激素将导致乳腺癌的发病风险。

“Fathers who spend a lot of time in fathering roles might have lower long-term exposure to testosterone,” reducing their risk, Dr. Ellison said. 

艾里生博士表示，“父亲们在成为父亲的角色上花费大量的时间可显示其长期较低的睾丸激素水平，” 这得以降低得病的风险。

Many questions remain. Does testosterone, which appeared to decline most steeply in fathers during their child’s first month, rebound as children become older and less dependent? How often do levels fluctuate? 

但依然存在很多问题。父亲在他们孩子的第一个月，睾丸激素的降幅最大；当孩子稍长，依赖减少的时候，激素又会反弹吗？这一水平的波动相隔多久？

They did not change before and after a play session with children, researchers found. But do they rise when fathers are at work and decrease on weekends? And are only biological fathers affected, or would similar results occur “if you have an uncle or brother or stepfather living in the household and they care for the baby?” asked Sarah B. Hrdy, the primatologist and author of “Mothers and Others.” 

研究发现，在和孩子们玩耍阶段，他们的激素水平并不会改变。但是，当父亲们在工作中，激素水平是否会增高，但到周末又是否会降低？还是，仅仅是生生父亲由此影响？灵长类学家，“母亲及其他”的编辑，莎拉.B.贺迪则提出，“如果在同一屋檐下你有一个叔叔或兄弟或继父，他们是否也会悉心照料小孩呢？”，是否也会有相同的答案？

The lowering of their testosterone did not prevent the men in the study from having more children. “You don’t need a lot of testosterone to have libido,” Dr. Kuzawa said. 

在研究中的男性逐渐降低的睾丸激素并不能防止他们会有更多的孩子。库扎瓦博士表示，“你不需要大量的睾丸激素去激发性欲。”

“If guys are worried about basically, ‘Am I going to remain a guy?’ ” Dr. Worthman said, “we’re not talking about changes that are going to take testosterone outside the range of having hairy chests, deep voices and big muscles and sperm counts. These are more subtle effects.” 

“根本上来说，如果小伙子们担心，‘我还将会是男人吗？’”，沃斯曼说，“我们没有讨论睾丸激素之外的变化，胸毛，粗声，及大块的肌肉和精子数量。这些都有着微妙的影响。”

And, as Dr. Gray wrote in a commentary accompanying the study, “The descent of a man’s testosterone may even be welcomed by some, perhaps his progeny.”

同时，当格雷同时，当格雷博士写这一研究的随评时表示，“一个男子睾丸激素水平的下降可能恰好被一些人，可能是他们的孩子所收益。”