Poster #22 - Influence of pre- and perinatal exposure to testosterone on empathizing and systemizing at school age

• In Event: 3-106 - Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: PS 11 Section - Biological Processes: Psychophysiology

Integrative Statement

Background: It is known from animal experiments that pre- and perinatal exposure to androgens affects the sexual differentiation of the brain and sex-typical behavior, e.g. sexual or play behavior (Lenz, Nugent & McCarthy, 2012; Phoenix, Goy, Gerall & Young, 1959). In humans, two cognitive dimensions have been suggested to underlie sex-typical behavior: empathizing and systemizing (Baron-Cohen, 2002). Females, on average, are suggested to be more drawn to empathizing whereas males, on average, are more likely to systemize (Baron-Cohen, Richler, Bisarya, Gurunathan & Wheelwright, 2003; Baron-Cohen & Wheelwright, 2004). One factor that assumedly plays a role in the development of sex-typical behavior is the influence of pre- and perinatal exposure to androgens such as testosterone (Auyeung & Baron-Cohen, 2008). However, studies using different measures of testosterone levels have yielded inconsistent results regarding the relationship between testosterone and empathizing or systemizing (Auyeung et al., 2009; Chapman et al., 2006; Hönekopp, 2012; Manning, Baron-Cohen, Wheelwright & Fink, 2010; Voracek & Dressler, 2006). Previous studies suggest that maternal sampling during pregnancy is a useful measure of prenatal testosterone exposure (Gitau, Adams, Fisk & Glover, 2005; Houtsmuller, Jong, Rowland & Slob, 1995). To date, no study has investigated the effects of testosterone in maternal serum during pregnancy or umbilical cord blood on sex-typical behaviour such as empathizing and systemizing. Here, we investigated the influence of pre- and perinatal testosterone on empathizing and systemizing in school-aged children.
Hypotheses: We hypothesized that pre- and perinatal levels of testosterone would be negatively associated with empathizing and positively associated with systemizing.
Methods: Testosterone levels were measured in maternal serum during pregnancy and umbilical cord blood at birth in 84 typically developing children (43 boys) recruited from a prospective birth cohort study. At 8 to 10 years of age, empathizing and systemizing were measured using the child Empathy-Systemizing Quotient (EQ-SQ). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted separately for each sex and each measure of testosterone and were adjusted for child age, maternal age at parturition, nationality, maternal education, length of gestation, gestational age at maternal sampling, siblings and smoking during pregnancy.
Results: We found significant negative associations between testosterone in cord blood and empathizing in girls and between testosterone in maternal serum and systemizing in boys.
Discussion: Our results indicate that pre- and perinatal levels of testosterone are related to sex-typical behavior in childhood. Perinatal exposure to testosterone was negatively related to empathizing in girls which is in accordance with previous studies (Chapman et al., 2006; Kempe & Heffernan, 2011; Wakabayashi & Nakazawa, 2010) although it is unclear why the association was restricted to girls. Unexpectedly, the SQ was negatively associated with testosterone levels in maternal serum in boys. However, the relationship between testosterone and systemizing might be more complex and possibly non-linear as previous studies investigating the effects of prenatal testosterone levels on systemizing abilities have yielded contradictory results (e.g. Berenbaum, Bryk & Beltz, 2012; Puts, McDaniel, Jordan & Breedlove, 2008). Possible mechanisms are discussed.

Author

• Nikola Nowack, Ruhr University Bochum
  Presenting Author