Fatherhood changes men’s brains, according to before-and-after MRI scans

Amazing stuff! The significant physiological and neurological changes going on in a first time mother have been reported and studied for a long time (the article also contains a description).

The article almost compulsively or desperately tries to associate these changes in first time fathers with extended paternity leave offered in other countries and with LGBTQ. Quite annoying this political spin! The article is actually authored by an associate professor and a PhD student (the two authors were also the researchers involved in the study).

"... The time fathers devote to child care every week has tripled over the past 50 years in the United States. The increase in fathers’ involvement in child rearing is even steeper in countries that have expanded paid paternity leave or created incentives for fathers to take leave ...
there is surprisingly little research about how fatherhood affects men. Even fewer studies focus on the brain and biological changes that might support fathering. ...

In terms of brain function, for instance, gay male fathers who are primary caregivers show stronger connections between parenting brain regions when viewing their infants, compared with secondary male caregivers. ...
We found several significant changes in the brains of fathers from prenatal to postpartum that did not emerge within the childless men we followed across the same time period. In both the Spanish and Californian samples, fathers’ brain changes appeared in regions of the cortex that contribute to visual processing, attention and empathy toward the baby. ..."

From the abstract:

"Emerging evidence points to the transition to parenthood as a critical window for adult neural plasticity. Studying fathers offers a unique opportunity to explore how parenting experience can shape the human brain when pregnancy is not directly experienced. Yet very few studies have examined the neuroanatomic adaptations of men transitioning into fatherhood. The present study reports on an international collaboration between two laboratories, one in Spain and the other in California (United States), that have prospectively collected structural neuroimaging data in 20 expectant fathers before and after the birth of their first child. The Spanish sample also included a control group of 17 childless men. We tested whether the transition into fatherhood entailed anatomical changes in brain cortical volume, thickness, and area, and subcortical volumes. We found overlapping trends of cortical volume reductions within the default mode network and visual networks and preservation of subcortical structures across both samples of first-time fathers, which persisted after controlling for fathers’ and children’s age at the postnatal scan. This study provides convergent evidence for cortical structural changes in fathers, supporting the possibility that the transition to fatherhood may represent a meaningful window of experience-induced structural neuroplasticity in males."

Fatherhood changes men’s brains, according to before-and-after MRI scans Neuroscientists know that pregnant mothers’ brains change in ways that appear to help with caring for a baby. Now researchers have identified changes in new fathers’ brains, too.

First-time fathers show longitudinal gray matter cortical volume reductions: evidence from two international samples (no public access)

I am not endorsing following book: