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    Prenatal testosterone exposure is related to sexually dimorphic facial morphology in adulthood

    Access Status
    Open access via publisher
    Authors
    Whitehouse, A.
    Gilani, S.
    Shafait, F.
    Mian, A.
    Tan, D.
    Maybery, M.
    Keelan, J.
    Hart, R.
    Handelsman, D.
    Goonawardene, M.
    Eastwood, Peter
    Date
    2015
    Type
    Journal Article
    
    Metadata
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    Citation
    Whitehouse, A. and Gilani, S. and Shafait, F. and Mian, A. and Tan, D. and Maybery, M. and Keelan, J. et al. 2015. Prenatal testosterone exposure is related to sexually dimorphic facial morphology in adulthood. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 282 (1816).
    Source Title
    Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
    DOI
    10.1098/rspb.2015.1351
    ISSN
    0962-8452
    School
    School of Physiotherapy and Exercise Science
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/63513
    Collection
    • Curtin Research Publications
    Abstract

    © 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.

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