Neurobiological Correlates of Fatherhood During the Postpartum Period: A Scoping Review.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Scoping review synthesizing heterogeneous observational, neuroimaging, and neuroendocrine studies without systematic quality appraisal or meta-analysis.
PubMed 35185716 · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.745767
What was done
Authors conducted a scoping review searching PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science for studies published over the prior 15 years on genetic, neuroendocrine, and brain correlates of fatherhood during the postpartum period. Reference lists were hand-searched, and studies were screened independently by the research team. Data from included studies were synthesized descriptively using tables.
What was found
Twenty-nine studies met inclusion criteria: 19 evaluated neuroendocrine correlates, 7 examined brain activity or connectivity, 2 were candidate-gene association studies, and 1 assessed brain structure. No studies evaluating epigenetic mechanisms were identified. The synthesized literature reported alterations in hormone levels (testosterone, oxytocin, prolactin, and cortisol) and functional activity changes in neural networks involved in empathy, approach motivation, mentalizing, emotion regulation, dorsal attention, and default mode function. The abstract provides no pooled effect sizes, statistical values, or quantitative estimates.
Why it matters
This review aggregates the emerging literature on paternal neuroplasticity, mapping how father-infant interactions relate to hormonal and neurofunctional adaptations during the postpartum period.
Limits
The literature base is small (29 studies) and heavily skewed toward neuroendocrine markers, with only a single study on structural brain changes and zero on epigenetic mechanisms. The abstract reports no formal risk-of-bias assessment or quantitative synthesis, and notes an absence of studies simultaneously measuring hormonal and neural interactions.
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