Das Familienleben senkt den Testosteronspiegel von Männern, ohne dass es zu einem medizinischen Mangel kommt. Eine neue Studie ergab, dass Männer, die mit einem Partner und Kindern im schulpflichtigen Alter zusammenleben, tendenziell einen niedrigeren Testosteronspiegel haben als alleinstehende Männer oder Männer in einer Partnerschaft ohne Kinder.

I’ve linked to the news release in the post above. In this comment, for those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306453025003816

From the linked article:

**Family life lowers men’s testosterone without causing medical deficiency**

New research analyzing a large, representative slice of the American population suggests that family life is linked to distinct hormonal profiles in men. **The study found that men living with a partner and school-aged children tend to have lower testosterone levels than single men or partnered men without children.**

These findings indicate that hormonal adjustments to fatherhood likely continue well past the infant years, though these changes do not appear to increase the risk of medically concerning hormone deficiencies. The results were published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology.

The findings revealed clear patterns linking partnering and parenting to hormonal variations. The first major observation was that partnered men generally had lower testosterone than single men who did not live with children. This difference was statistically significant and aligns with previous research on marriage and partnership.

A more novel finding emerged when the researchers looked at the age of the children in the home. Partnered men living with school-aged children or adolescents had significantly lower testosterone levels than partnered men who did not live with children. This suggests that the biological regulation of testosterone does not stop after the toddler years.

The effect was most pronounced in fathers of older children. Partnered men living with two or more children between the ages of six and seventeen showed the lowest relative levels. This specific group had lower testosterone than both single men and partnered men with no children in the household.

The pattern for men with younger children was somewhat different. Partnered men living with infants or toddlers did not show a significant additional drop in testosterone compared to partnered men without children. In this specific dataset, the lower levels in men with young families appeared to be driven primarily by the state of being partnered.

The study then addressed the medical implications of these findings. There is a medical consensus that clinically low testosterone can be harmful. Levels below 300 nanograms per deciliter are often classified as hypogonadism. This condition is linked to increased risks for cardiovascular disease, metabolic issues, and other health problems.

The researchers hypothesized that the lower testosterone seen in fathers is an adaptive biological trait rather than a pathology. If this hypothesis is correct, the levels should not drop low enough to be considered clinically deficient. The data supported this prediction.

The analysis showed that neither being partnered nor living with children increased a man’s likelihood of having clinically low testosterone. While the average levels were lower for fathers, they remained within a range considered healthy for physiological functioning. This distinction is significant for men’s health. It suggests that the body can downregulate testosterone to support family life without crossing the threshold into a disease state.

The study also examined whether age influenced these patterns. Men’s testosterone naturally declines as they get older. It was possible that the differences between single and partnered men would disappear in older age groups. However, the researchers found that age did not significantly alter the associations. The link between family roles and testosterone appeared consistent across the age range of 20 to 60.