DAD BRAIN

The emerging science revealing the physical and psychological changes caused by fatherhood.

Psychologist Saxbe, making use of her own research as well as interviews and the research of others, presents a compelling and entertaining case that becoming a father makes more of a difference, in ways both positive and sometimes negative, on a man than might have been suspected. The physical changes wrought by fatherhood have been far less studied than those brought on by motherhood, and those studies have often been on subjects who are “WEIRD” (“Westernized, educated participants from industrialized, rich, democratic countries”), but Saxbe also brings in some fascinating research about hunter-gatherer and pastoral societies in Africa. And she makes sure to reveal the limits of some of the studies she mentions and which ones should be taken with a grain of salt. Some of the most intriguing results she presents have to do with changes in the brains and other physiology of men who are involved parents, both before and after their partners give birth, which reflect in some ways the changes mothers experience but differ in others. For fathers, where most changes take place after the birth of the baby rather than before as in mothers, a stew of hormonal changes, including an average 25% drop in testosterone for men after they become fathers, lead to both “an adaptive trade-off leading to nurturing rather than mating” (a phenomenon also notable in many other animals) and “an increased risk of depression.” Saxbe also addresses the wider challenges fathers face, whether that means dealing with inadequate paternity leave, adopting children, or dealing with separation from children for a wide range of reasons. Her work should prove enlightening for dads, their partners, their children, and anyone interested in the role of parenthood in society.

A sympathetic and sensible look at contemporary paternity.