The Washington Post cites a researcher stating that the changes in the male brain may support bonding and connection with their children.
Parenting requires special skills. Parents need to anticipate their children’s needs, understand, and care for them. However, during the early stages when a child is born, especially for first-time parents, they often lack experience in child-rearing.
Therefore, researchers say it is not surprising that parents learn to adapt to their new roles. This is when changes in the brain occur.
Changes in the Male Brain
Some studies indicate that women’s brains undergo physical changes during pregnancy and after childbirth. These changes lead some researchers to suspect that they may help women prepare mentally for motherhood. In the latest study, the authors found that new fathers also experience similar changes.
Parents learn to adapt to their new roles. This is when changes in the brain occur – (Photo: SMA Baby Club)
Darby Saxbe, a psychology professor at the University of Southern California who is studying structural changes in the brain, stated that the changes men experience may support “the ability to bond with the baby and connect sensitively, as this is crucial for our species’ survival.“
Saxbe and colleagues in Spain conducted brain imaging studies on 40 expectant fathers before and after the birth of their first child.
The researchers found that although the structural changes were more subtle than those observed in women, men experienced a reduction in gray matter before and after becoming fathers.
The researchers noted that these changes primarily occur in the cortex, which plays a role in executive functions, including memory, thinking, reasoning, learning, problem-solving, and emotional processing. Saxbe stated that the reduction in gray matter is believed to help the brain process information more efficiently.
In a subsequent study, Saxbe and a colleague found that among 38 first-time fathers, those who experienced significant decreases in gray matter volume in the cortex showed greater motivation and attachment to their parenting role.
“They felt more bonded with their child before birth. And after that, they spent more time with their child as the primary caregiver,” she said. Men also undergo hormonal changes before and after becoming fathers.
One study showed that during their first time holding a newborn, fathers experience a boost in oxytocin, a crucial bonding hormone.
The Body Self-Regulates to Adapt to New Roles
Another study involving over 600 men found that those in their early 20s with higher testosterone levels were more likely to become fathers within the following four years. Subsequently, those who became fathers experienced a significant decrease in testosterone compared to non-fathers, who had modest declines.
Higher testosterone levels in men, along with other factors, facilitate competition in pursuing future partners. Lee Gettler, an anthropology professor at the University of Notre Dame and lead author of the testosterone study, explained, “Thus, the idea is that the decrease in testosterone as men transition to fatherhood self-regulates their focus and priorities towards family.”
Gettler and his colleagues observed additional results in men who became fathers in their early 30s. “The results were less impressive for older fathers, possibly due to men producing less testosterone as they age,” Gettler, who is also the director of the Hormones, Health, and Human Behavior Lab at the University of Notre Dame, stated.
In another study, the decrease in testosterone and increase in cortisol—stress hormone—in new fathers was associated with greater attachment in their parenting roles in the following months.
Gettler said: “Men’s bodies are preparing for the demands of parenthood in ways somewhat similar to what mothers experience, but in other ways, they are different or evolved specifically in fathers to help them focus on the needs of their partners and children.”
Although the reduction in gray matter in first-time fathers may contribute to better bonding and attachment, these changes are also associated with a higher risk of postpartum depression, anxiety, and poorer sleep quality in men.
