Health Report - Biology May Keep New Fathers Close to Home
健康报道 - 居家好男人的生物学解释
This is the VOA Special English Health Report.
这里是美国之音慢速英语健康报道。
A few months ago, government researchers released the latest American Time Use Survey. It included the average time per day that Americans spent providing child care between two thousand six and two thousand ten.
几个月前，政府研究人员发布了最新的美国人时间使用调查报告。其中包括2006年到2010年期间美国人每天花费在照顾儿童上的时间。
Among adults living with children under age six, women spent one hour and six minutes a day providing physical care. This is care like bathing or feeding a child. Men spent twenty-six minutes.
在和6岁以下儿童共同生活的成年人中，女性每天花费了1小时6分钟照顾孩子，例如给孩子洗澡或喂食。而男性只花费了26分钟。
Yet a new study suggests that men are biologically designed to care for their children. It confirmed that testosterone levels drop after men become fathers.
然而，一项新的研究表明，男性从生理学角度来说意在照顾小孩。该报告证实，男性成为父亲后睾丸激素水平有所下降。
Testosterone is the main sex hormone responsible for the changes when a boy develops into a man. Women also produce testosterone but in much lower amounts.
睾丸激素是造成男孩成长为男人这一变化的一种主要的性激素。女性也会分泌极少量的睾丸激素。
Earlier studies showed that fathers have lower levels of testosterone than childless men. Christopher Kuzawa at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, says there are at least two possible explanations.
早前的研究表明，成为父亲的男性的睾丸激素水平低于无儿女的男性。美国西北大学的克里斯托弗·久泽（Christopher Kuzawa）表示，这至少有两种可能的解释。西北大学位于伊利诺伊州埃文斯顿地区。
CHRISTOPHER KUZAWA: “Is it that fatherhood reduces your testosterone? Or do men with low testosterone to begin with, are they more likely to become fathers? And so what we did is, we followed men through time and measured their hormones before and after they became fathers.”
久泽：“是成为父亲导致睾丸激素水平下降，还是睾丸激素水平低的男性更有可能成为父亲？而我们所做的就是，跟踪调查男性一段时间，测量他们在成为父亲前后的激素水平。”
Professor Kuzawa is a biological anthropologist. He and other researchers used information from a long-term study of men in the Philippines. That study measured their testosterone levels in two thousand five and two thousand nine.
久泽教授是一位生物人类学家。他和其他研究人员采用了对菲律宾男性进行长期调查的数据。该报告测量了2005年和2009年这些男性的睾丸激素水平。
Some of the men were childless; others became fathers during that time.
其中一些男性无子女，其他男性在此期间成为了父亲。
CHRISTOPHER KUZAWA: “And those are the men where we see the largest decline in testosterone.”
久泽：“我们看到这些（成为父亲的）男性睾丸激素水平降幅最大。”
The study found that testosterone levels dropped by about half immediately after the birth of a child, then rose some. Men who were active in child care produced less than those who were not active.
这项研究发现，孩子出生后，这些男性睾丸激素水平立即下降了一半左右，随后小幅上升。积极照顾孩子的男性产生的睾丸激素低于不积极照顾孩子的男性。
Testosterone levels may drop in fathers to get them to pay more attention to parenting than to reproducing. But Professor Kuzawa says there are other good reasons as well.
成为父亲的男性睾丸激素水平降低可能是为了让他们更专注于照顾孩子而不是性生活。但久泽教授表示，也还有其他充分的理由（来解释这点）。
CHRISTOPHER KUZAWA: “Having high levels of testosterone can increase your risk for diseases like prostate cancer [and] testicular cancer. Also, testosterone can suppress the immune system so that you’re less capable of fending off pathogens.”
久泽：“睾丸激素水平过高会增加前列腺癌和睾丸癌等疾病的风险。此外，睾丸激素还会抑制免疫系统，导致抵抗病原体的能力下降。”
The study is in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
这项研究发表在美国国家科学院学报上。
Studies have shown a similar drop in other mammals and in birds after mating periods to allow for care giving. Animal studies have shown that the greater the involvement of males, the lower their testosterone levels.
研究还表明，其他哺乳动物和鸟类在交配期后激素水平也有类似下降，以便照顾幼小。动物研究表明，雄性参与照顾孩子的程度越高，睾丸激素水平越低。
We asked Thomas McDade, another author of the study, if testosterone levels also drop in men who adopt children. He says that is an interesting question and the “next obvious thing to study.”
我们请教该研究的另一作者托马斯·麦克达德（Thomas McDade），收养孩子的男性睾丸水平是否也会降低。他说，这是一个有趣的问题，也正是他们接下来要研究的。”
And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. I'm Jim Tedder. |