Amniocentesis Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Amniocentesis, including details on pregnancy, prenatal screening, diagnosis, risks, down syndrome.

Gender-typed play and amniotic testosterone.

Knickmeyer RC, Wheelwright S, Taylor K, Raggatt P, Hackett G, Baron-Cohen S

Autism Research Centre, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom. rk250@cam.ac.uk

Sex differences in play are apparent in a number of mammalian species, including humans. Prenatal testosterone may contribute to these differences. The authors report the first attempt to correlate gender-typed play in a normative sample of humans with measurements of amniotic testosterone (aT). Testosterone was measured in the amniotic fluid of 53 children (31 boys and 22 girls). A strong sex difference was observed in aT and, at ages 4.75 to 5.8 years, on a modified version of the Child Game Participation Questionnaire. Hierarchical regression analyses on the entire group and within-sex correlations suggested that variations in aT did not contribute to individual differences in game participation as reported by the mother. A critique of explanations for this finding is presented.

Published 24 May 2005 in Dev Psychol, 41(3): 517-28.
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