Undersøgelser viser, at kønsforskelle i legeadfærd blandt pattedyr, herunder mennesker, delvist skyldes forskelle i testosteronniveauer under fosterudviklingen. Piger med medfødt binyrehyperplasi, som udsættes for høje niveauer af testosteron før fødslen, viser mere drenge-typisk leg. Denne undersøgelse bekræfter, at fostertestosteron også påvirker kønstypisk leg hos både drenge og piger i den generelle befolkning, hvilket understreger hormonernes rolle i tidlig adfærdsudvikling.
Titel på undersøgelse:
Fetal Testosterone Predicts Sexually Differentiated Childhood Behavior in Girls and Boys.
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Hele abstrakt på originalsprog:
Mammals, including humans, show sex differences in juvenile play behavior. In rodents and nonhuman primates, these behavioral sex differences result, in part, from sex differences in androgens during early development. Girls exposed to high levels of androgen prenatally, because of the genetic disorder congenital adrenal hyperplasia, show increased male-typical play, suggesting similar hormonal influences on human development, at least in females. Here, we report that fetal testosterone measured from amniotic fluid relates positively to male-typical scores on a standardized questionnaire measure of sex-typical play in both boys and girls. These results show, for the first time, a link between fetal testosterone and the development of sex-typical play in children from the general population, and are the first data linking high levels of prenatal testosterone to increased male-typical play behavior in boys.