Relating Prenatal Testosterone Exposure to Postnatal Behavior in Typically Developing Children: Methods and Findings

Abstract

Testosterone levels during early development influence subsequent sex‐typical behavior. These influences were initially identified in experimental research on nonhuman species. Additional research—primarily investigating individuals exposed to atypical hormone environments due to genetic disorders or maternal treatment with hormones during pregnancy—suggested that testosterone also influences the development of sex‐typical behavior in humans. There is also interest in identifying relations between normal variability in the early hormone environment and normal variability in subsequent behavior. This article reviews studies that have assessed prenatal testosterone exposure in typically developing children using amniotic fluid sampling or maternal blood sampling. It concludes that both these approaches are promising, but both require larger samples than those used in most studies to date. Recommendations for future research also include using outcome measures that show sex differences, analyzing data within each sex, considering the time of day (as well as the time of gestation) when samples were taken, and reporting all the measures evaluated, not just those showing significant effects.

Sex differences in mathematical achievement: Grades, national test, and self-confidence

“…There is a theory that during the prenatal period, having an opposite-sex co-twin can change the level of prenatal testosterone, resulting in differentiated brain structure and masculinization of girls (Tapp et al, 2011;Ahrenfeldt et al, 2015). This means that girls from opposite-sex pairs are more likely to pursue activities linked to the development of spatial abilities (Berenbaum et al, 2012;Constantinescu & Hines, 2012) and have fewer differences from boys in mathematical ability and mathematical achievement (as found in our study). Thus, biological factors related to the formation of mathematical ability could be linked with sex differences as well.…”

Academic performance of opposite-sex and same-sex twins in adolescence: A Danish national cohort study

“…The study found that female guinea pigs that were exposed to testosterone prenatally showed masculinized behaviour in adulthood. Since then, several studies of non-human mammals have demonstrated effects of testosterone on neurobehavioural sexual differentiation (Constantinescu and Hines, 2012). Evidence that testosterone also influences human neurobehavioural development is to a great extent derived from studies of individuals who develop in atypical hormone environments (Constantinescu and Hines, 2012), and the best-studied clinical condition is congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) (Cohen-Bendahan et al, 2005).…”

“…Since then, several studies of non-human mammals have demonstrated effects of testosterone on neurobehavioural sexual differentiation (Constantinescu and Hines, 2012). Evidence that testosterone also influences human neurobehavioural development is to a great extent derived from studies of individuals who develop in atypical hormone environments (Constantinescu and Hines, 2012), and the best-studied clinical condition is congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) (Cohen-Bendahan et al, 2005). Females with CAH, who produce high levels of adrenal androgens from early in gestation due to an autosomal recessive disorder, show increased male-typical behaviour and decreased female-typical behaviour despite postnatal hormone treatment (Hines, 2011).…”

Opinion: Sex, gender and the diagnosis of autism—A biosocial view of the male preponderance

“…Clearly, there is no shortage of complex explanations to envision how sex, primarily through its endocrine influences on the developing brain, may modulate the propensity to develop a neuro-developmental disorder like autism (Bale et al, 2010; Connors et al, 2008; Marco, Macri, & Laviola, 2011). Fetal testosterone (fT) plays a central role in human neurobehavioral sexual differentiation and in later social behavior (Bergman, Glover, Sarkar, Abbott, & O’Connor, 2010; Constantinescu & Hines, 2012). Thus, elevated testosterone exposure during critical periods of early development might be responsible for permanent behavioral changes.…”