成爲父親後 男性變得更忠貞

They say having a family changes a man forever. But it may not just be a sense of duty that drives new dads to swap evenings in the pub for quiet nights at home.

據英國《每日郵報》9月12日報道，人們說，家庭常常會改變一個男人。但是，剛剛成爲爸爸的男性們之所以不再光顧酒吧，而是選擇回到家中寧靜度日，這不僅僅是因爲他們受到了責任感的驅使。

　　A study has found that when men become fathers, their bodies suppress production of the sex hormone, making them more interested in parenting than mating.

研究發現，男人在成爲父親之後，他們的身體就會抑制性激素的產生，這使其對養育子女比對性生活的興趣更大。

The researchers measured testosterone levels in saliva from a group of 21-year-old men from the Philippines with no children. Testosterone boosts behaviors that help a male compete for a mate.

研究人員對一組來自菲律賓的尚未成爲父親的21歲男性唾液中的睾丸素水平進行了測量。睾丸素促使男性追求配偶。

　　Over the next five years, childless men saw an average age-related testosterone decline of 14 percent, but for those who became fathers, the typical drop was 34 percent.

在接下來的5年中，無子女的男性由於年齡原因，睾丸素平均減少了14%，而那些成爲父親的男性，他們的睾丸素銳減了34%。

　　The men who reported caring for their child for between one and three hours per day saw the greatest decline, which the authors said was not accounted for by stress or sleep deprivation.

根據報告顯示，那些每天花一至三小時時間來照顧小孩的男性，他們的性激素減少的最多。研究人員認爲，這一現象並不能歸咎於壓力大或是缺乏睡眠這些因素。

　　Co-author Lee Gettler, an anthropologist at Northwestern, said: "I think it is reasonable to predict that the men’s testosterone could remain low for a number of years if they remained heavily involved in providing care to their children."

美國西北大學的研究員雷 蓋圖說：“我認爲，這個判斷較爲合理，即如果男性照顧小孩的負擔較重，那麼他們的睾丸素將會在數年內都保持在一個較低水平上。”

　　This is the first to suggest that settling down and having children actually causes the fall.

該研究首次證實了成家和生子確實會導致睾丸素減少。