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aspie
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Male and female fetuses differ in testosterone concentrations beginning as early as week 8 of gestation. During prenatal development, testosterone exposure is directly responsible for masculinizing the genitals and brain structures. Prenatal testosterone levels of males are significantly higher than those of females, and there is noticeably more variation in males:
source
This causes differences between genders, but varying levels can also cause differences within genders. Prenatal testosterone levels affect things such as facial masculinity/feminity, sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as some, but not all, sex-related cognitive, motor and personality characteristics **, and high pT levels might increase the risk of some neurodevelopmental disorders.
(DIGIT RATIO [2D:4D] IS NOT A GOOD INDICATOR OF PRENATAL TESTOSTERONE LEVELS, no statistically significant correlation): For both males and females, there were no significant correlations between digit ratio and any androgen or estrogen concentrations considered individually, the testosterone to estradiol ratio, total androgen bioactivity measure or ratio of androgen to estrogen bioactivity (all p > .05)
Effects of prenatal T:
This causes differences between genders, but varying levels can also cause differences within genders. Prenatal testosterone levels affect things such as facial masculinity/feminity, sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as some, but not all, sex-related cognitive, motor and personality characteristics **, and high pT levels might increase the risk of some neurodevelopmental disorders.
(DIGIT RATIO [2D:4D] IS NOT A GOOD INDICATOR OF PRENATAL TESTOSTERONE LEVELS, no statistically significant correlation): For both males and females, there were no significant correlations between digit ratio and any androgen or estrogen concentrations considered individually, the testosterone to estradiol ratio, total androgen bioactivity measure or ratio of androgen to estrogen bioactivity (all p > .05)
Effects of prenatal T:
- Facial masculinity https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2015.1351 In this study, there was a substantial correlation (n = 86; r = 0.55) between testosterone levels in umbilical cord blood and facial masculinity in males as adults. With adult testosterone levels, there was no correlation. Prenatal T affects features such as nose width (wider), upper lip height (shorter), nasal tip protrusion, eyebrow thickness and shape, skin tone... Females with higher levels also had more masculine features, and the correlation was similar.
- Behavior - Our results also differ from prior findings in that we found a relationship between prenatal testosterone and sex-typical play in both boys and girls.
- Most importantly, boys who waited shorter in the Delay of Gratification task and boys who were reported to suffer from more attention problems and overactive behavior had higher prenatal testosterone levels. This could be one reason why girls do better at school in almost all countries. - Risks: The results showed male infants with high levels of testosterone in cord blood were between two-and-three times more likely to experience language delay. (Opposite effect in females) There are theories that autism is also linked to higher prenatal T levels, but in this study, there was no correlation (autistic traits): https://jneurodevdisorders.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1866-1955-4-25
- Maternal age: Significant negative correlation between maternal age and prenatal T levels (r(71)= −0.35, p = .002) (Older mom=lower prenatal T)
- Spacing of births:
- Genetics is the most important factor
