Men with big testicles make poor daddies

A recent US study measuring fathering habits and testicle size suggested that bigger may not be better when it comes to the day-to-day raising of small children. The research involved 70 US men of varying ethnicities — most were Caucasian, five were Asian and 15 were African-American. All were the fathers of children aged one to two. The larger the volume of their testes, the less the men were involved in daily parenting activities like changing diapers, said the study by researchers at Emory University in Georgia.

In comparison, men with smaller testes showed more nurturing activity in the brain when shown pictures of their children, and also were more involved in their children’s upbringing, according to surveys answered separately by both the fathers and their female partners.

Since the testes are where sperm is made, and their size can be linked to the amount produced, the researchers said their study is unique and the first of its kind.

“I wouldn’t want to say that men with large testes are always bad fathers but our data show a tendency for them to be less involved in things like changing diapers, bathing children, preparing meals, taking them to the doctor and things like that,” said lead author James Rilling, an associate professor of anthropology.

“Other people have looked at testosterone and parental behavior but as far as we know we are the first to look at testes size and parental behavior and we think we are getting at something different,” said Rilling. “We are suggesting that men with larger testes are more built for a mating effort strategy and as a consequence are less built for investing in children.”

Source: "Do big balls make bad dads?"