Prenatal testosterone exposure is related to sexually dimorphic facial morphology in adulthood
© 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved. Prenatal testosterone may have a powerful masculinizing effect on postnatal physical characteristics. However, no study has directly tested this hypothesis. Here, we report a 20-year follow-up study that measured testosterone...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
The Royal Society Publishing
2015
|
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/63513 |
| _version_ | 1848761107754254336 |
|---|---|
| author | Whitehouse, A. Gilani, S. Shafait, F. Mian, A. Tan, D. Maybery, M. Keelan, J. Hart, R. Handelsman, D. Goonawardene, M. Eastwood, Peter |
| author_facet | Whitehouse, A. Gilani, S. Shafait, F. Mian, A. Tan, D. Maybery, M. Keelan, J. Hart, R. Handelsman, D. Goonawardene, M. Eastwood, Peter |
| author_sort | Whitehouse, A. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved. Prenatal testosterone may have a powerful masculinizing effect on postnatal physical characteristics. However, no study has directly tested this hypothesis. Here, we report a 20-year follow-up study that measured testosterone concentrations from the umbilical cord blood of 97 male and 86 female newborns, and procured three-dimensional facial images on these participants in adulthood (range: 21-24 years). Twenty-three Euclidean and geodesic distances were measured from the facial images and an algorithm identified a set of six distances that most effectively distinguished adult males from females. From these distances, a 'gender score' was calculated for each face, indicating the degree of masculinity or femininity. Higher cord testosterone levels were associated with masculinized facial features when males and females were analysed together (n = 183; r = —0.59), as well as when males (n = 86; r = —0.55) and females (n = 97; r = —0.48) were examined separately (p-values < 0.001). The relationships remained significant and substantial after adjusting for potentially confounding variables. Adult circulating testosterone concentrations were available for males but showed no statistically significant relationship with gendered facial morphology (n = 85, r = 0.01, p = 0.93). This study provides the first direct evidence of a link between prenatal testosterone exposure and human facial structure. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T10:26:25Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-63513 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T10:26:25Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | The Royal Society Publishing |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-635132018-02-06T07:40:43Z Prenatal testosterone exposure is related to sexually dimorphic facial morphology in adulthood Whitehouse, A. Gilani, S. Shafait, F. Mian, A. Tan, D. Maybery, M. Keelan, J. Hart, R. Handelsman, D. Goonawardene, M. Eastwood, Peter © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved. Prenatal testosterone may have a powerful masculinizing effect on postnatal physical characteristics. However, no study has directly tested this hypothesis. Here, we report a 20-year follow-up study that measured testosterone concentrations from the umbilical cord blood of 97 male and 86 female newborns, and procured three-dimensional facial images on these participants in adulthood (range: 21-24 years). Twenty-three Euclidean and geodesic distances were measured from the facial images and an algorithm identified a set of six distances that most effectively distinguished adult males from females. From these distances, a 'gender score' was calculated for each face, indicating the degree of masculinity or femininity. Higher cord testosterone levels were associated with masculinized facial features when males and females were analysed together (n = 183; r = —0.59), as well as when males (n = 86; r = —0.55) and females (n = 97; r = —0.48) were examined separately (p-values < 0.001). The relationships remained significant and substantial after adjusting for potentially confounding variables. Adult circulating testosterone concentrations were available for males but showed no statistically significant relationship with gendered facial morphology (n = 85, r = 0.01, p = 0.93). This study provides the first direct evidence of a link between prenatal testosterone exposure and human facial structure. 2015 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/63513 10.1098/rspb.2015.1351 The Royal Society Publishing unknown |
| spellingShingle | Whitehouse, A. Gilani, S. Shafait, F. Mian, A. Tan, D. Maybery, M. Keelan, J. Hart, R. Handelsman, D. Goonawardene, M. Eastwood, Peter Prenatal testosterone exposure is related to sexually dimorphic facial morphology in adulthood |
| title | Prenatal testosterone exposure is related to sexually dimorphic facial morphology in adulthood |
| title_full | Prenatal testosterone exposure is related to sexually dimorphic facial morphology in adulthood |
| title_fullStr | Prenatal testosterone exposure is related to sexually dimorphic facial morphology in adulthood |
| title_full_unstemmed | Prenatal testosterone exposure is related to sexually dimorphic facial morphology in adulthood |
| title_short | Prenatal testosterone exposure is related to sexually dimorphic facial morphology in adulthood |
| title_sort | prenatal testosterone exposure is related to sexually dimorphic facial morphology in adulthood |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/63513 |