Dads Can Identify Their Children Based On Body Odor
Moms often get the well-deserved superhero title, as they should. They juggle countless responsibilities with great fortitude and grace.
But dads have their own superpowers, too! It turns out that dads have a hidden ability to pick up on their kids’ unique scent profiles.
According to a new study from Germany, fathers can identify the body odor of their own children from the odors of other prepubescent children.
In addition, their ability and preference to detect their children’s body odor declined as the children entered puberty. The change was particularly noted in daughters.
When it comes to human relationships, body odors provide information about a person’s health, genetic compatibility, hormonal status, emotional state, attractiveness, and trustworthiness. Pleasant odors can lead to bonding, while unpleasant odors cause aversion.
In parent-child interactions, body odors help parents recognize their offspring. But as a child gets older, the parents’ perceptions of their body odor changes. For instance, mothers could recognize the smell of their children before puberty.
But once the children reached puberty, mothers could no longer recognize or prefer their body odor. After puberty, mothers perceived the body odors of their children to be pleasant. The phenomenon applied to sons but not daughters.
The researchers of the new study wanted to see if fathers could also identify their children’s body odor at different developmental stages.
They believed that fathers would follow much of the same patterns as mothers, except their reduction in recognition and preference of their children’s scent would apply to daughters, not sons.
J Maas/peopleimages.com – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual people
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They suggested that the decline in preference for the body odor of children of the opposite gender as they mature was a biological mechanism to avoid incest.
The study involved 56 fathers and 73 of their biological children. The children’s ages ranged from newborn to 18-years-old, while the average age of the fathers was 39.
The researchers tested the similarity of the participants’ immune systems. The fathers were asked to complete assessments about their olfactory abilities and depressive symptoms.
Next, the researchers collected hormonal samples and body odors from the participants. Then, the fathers had to rate the sweetness, pleasantness, intensity, attractiveness, and desirability (how much they wanted to smell it again) of the body odor samples. Finally, they had to determine which sample belonged to their child.
The results revealed that fathers could recognize their kid’s body odor 33 percent of the time. They reported that the odor of their infant and prepubescent children was more pleasant than that of the older children.
This effect was most prominent in daughters, as fathers demonstrated a sharp decline in preference for their daughters’ odor as they matured.
Overall, fathers were able to recognize their children’s body odors across different developmental stages as mothers can.
Fathers also experienced an altered perception of body odor during the puberty stage, particularly with their daughters.
The details of the findings were recently published in the scientific journal Physiology and Behavior.
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