The effects of aromatase within the brain on sexual behavior have been studied in a wide variety of species. Relatively few non-mating behaviors have been considered, despite evidence that estrogen affects many social behaviors. Testosterone promotes paternal behavior in California mouse (Peromyscus californicus) fathers, acting primarily via aromatization to estradiol. Virgin male California m...

Aggression can have a critical impact on the functioning of societies. Some aspects of aggression have received considerable attention, such as links between parenting behavior and offspring aggression in humans. Although acknowledged as being important to the understanding of human aggression, animal aggression has been relatively unstudied. Recent mammalian animal research is emerging that ad...

Appropriate parental care by fathers can greatly facilitate healthy human family life. However, much less is known about paternal behavior in animals compared to those regarding maternal behavior. Previously, we reported that male ICR strain laboratory mice, although not spontaneously parental, can be induced to display maternal-like parental care (pup retrieval) when separated from their pups ...

Within the last few decades our understanding of the importance of non-cognitive skills for socioeconomic success has grown along with our knowledge of the deleterious impacts of paternal incarceration for child wellbeing. Given the importance of early skills and that elementary-aged children constitute the majority of children with incarcerated parents, understanding the connection between pat...

This article is part of a Special Issue "Parental Care". Paternal care, though rare among mammals, is routinely displayed by several species of rodents. Here we review the neuroanatomical and hormonal bases of paternal behavior, as well as the behavioral and neuroendocrine consequences of paternal behavior for offspring. Fathering behavior is subserved by many of the same neural substrates whic...

During the summer breeding season, free-living meadow voles do not engage in paternal care. However, in fall when female territoriality declines, social nesting and breeding activity may overlap and adult males nest with females and young. In the laboratory, meadow voles housed under short day (SD) lengths exhibit more and better quality paternal care than those housed under long day (LD) lengt...

This longitudinal study examines the relationship between earlier paternal drug abuse, environmental factors, paternal child-rearing practices, and adolescent vulnerable personality attributes and later adolescent aggressive behavior. Data were collected at two points in time, one year apart, via individual, structured interviews. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to assess the interr...

Paternal and nonpaternal voles (microtus) have different arginine-vasopressin (AVP) and oxytocin (OT) receptor patterns in the extended amygdala, a neural pathway associated with parental behavior. Using receptor autoradiography, the authors examined whether AVP and OT receptor patterns were associated with facultative paternal behavior in either sexually and parentally inexperienced or experie...