ABSTRACT
The question of the role of prenatal sex hormones in human psychosexual differentiation originated in the clinical context of intersexuality and its management problems. Sex hormones affect the size of certain cell clusters, shapes of dendritic trees, and types of synapses; such sex-dimorphic structures have been localized in several areas of the brain, particularly in the hypothalamus and the preoptic area. The use of sex hormones in the treatment of problem pregnancies was first introduced in the 1940s, after it had become known that successful initiation as well as maintenance of pregnancy depended, on hormones produced by the mother as well as by the feto-placental unit. Thus, the available observations suggest that prenatal sex hormones contribute to the development of behavioral differences between the sexes in general as it has been demonstrated in animal research. The tendencies are likely to facilitate or inhibit certain behavior effects of the sex-typing pressures that the developing individual encounters in the social environment.
