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Hormones and Human Allocare
JaimacaSeveral lines of evidence suggest that human babies require allocare-care by individuals other than the mother--to thrive. For example, humans are born remarkably helpless and in no human society do we find mothers typically serving as sole caregivers of their children. Such observations have stimulated interest in the roles primarily of fathers and grandmothers as important allocaregivers.

Here, we're interested not just in the evolution and variation in human allocare, but also the proximate mechanisms that underlie it. We focus on the ways the neuroendocrine system both responds to and shapes patterns of human allocare. Through summer 2006 research in Jamaica, we investigated the hormonal correlates of fatherhood. This research involved fathers interacting with partners (mates) and their youngest offspring for 20 minutes to assess effects on blood pressure and hormone levels. To facilitate this research, we measured hormone levels from minimally invasive sample collection (salivary testosterone and cortisol, finger prick blood spot prolactin, urinary oxytocin and vasopressin). Results revealed that dads had lower testosterone levels than single men and implicated prolactin and vasopressin but not cortisol or oxytocin in fatherhood.
Dr. Gray taking a sample from a Jamaican father Our next wave of research entails investigating the hormonal correlates of grand mothering in Jamaica. This effort involves Gray, Anthropology Ph.D. his students and continued collaboration with Jamaican colleague Dr. Maureen Samms-Vaughan. Also planned is research on prolactin responses of female caregivers at UNLV daycare.

Collectively, this focus on the hormones and human allocare enters scientifically uncharted terrain, but with excellent theoretical and empirical guidance from non-human vertebrate research and aided by the use of minimally invasive biological sampling. Results have implications for understanding the biocultural nature of human behavior as well as clinical outcomes, including mental health.