Children's body odours are effective chemical cues in the parent-child relationship. Mothers can recognize the odour of their child and prefer this odour over that of unfamiliar children. This effect is mediated by genetic similarity and developmental stage and is therefore suited to promote parental care at pre-pubertal stage, while facilitating incest avoidance at (post-)pubertal stage. The present study tested whether similar mechanisms apply to fathers. Therefore = 56 fathers evaluated body odour samples of their own and of unfamiliar children in varying genetic and developmental stages. Genetic status was determined by human leucocyte antigen (HLA) profiling, developmental status by standardized assessment of pubertal status and steroid hormone concentration (estradiol, testosterone). Similar to mothers, fathers identified their own child's body odour above chance and preferred that odour. The paternal preference did not relate to HLA similarity but decreased with increasing age of the child. The decline was associated with higher pubertal stages in daughters only, which supports the hypothesis of odour-mediated incest prevention in opposite-sex parent-child dyads.

中文翻译：

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体味作为父子关系中假定的化学信号：对从婴儿期到青春期父亲嗅觉亲属识别和偏好的新见解

儿童的体味是亲子关系中有效的化学信号。母亲可以识别孩子的气味，并且比不熟悉的孩子更喜欢这种气味。这种效应是由遗传相似性和发育阶段介导的，因此适合促进青春期前阶段的父母照顾，同时促进青春期（后）阶段避免乱伦。本研究测试了类似的机制是否适用于父亲。因此，= 56 名父亲评估了自己和处于不同遗传和发育阶段的不熟悉孩子的体味样本。遗传状态通过人类白细胞抗原（HLA）分析确定，发育状态通过青春期状态和类固醇激素浓度（雌二醇、睾酮）的标准化评估确定。与母亲类似，父亲们不可能偶然地识别出自己孩子的体味，并且更喜欢这种气味。父亲的偏好与HLA相似性无关，但随着孩子年龄的增长而降低。这种下降仅与女儿的青春期较高有关，这支持了异性亲子二人组中气味介导的乱伦预防的假设。