Citation

van der Meij L, Buunk AP, van de Sande JP, Salvador A. Horm. Behav. 2008; 54(5): 640-644.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, University of Groningen, 9712 TS Groningen, The Netherlands. L.van.der.Meij@rug.nl

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.yhbeh.2008.07.001

PMID

18675269

Abstract

In line with the challenge hypothesis, this study investigated the effects of the presence of a woman on the testosterone (T) levels of young men. An informal contact with a woman of approximately 5 min resulted in an increase in salivary T among men. These effects occurred particularly in men with an aggressive dominant personality. In addition, higher salivary T levels were related to a more aggressively dominant personality, being sexual inactive for a month or more, and not being involved in a committed, romantic relationship. The most important findings of this study are that the short presence of a woman induces specific hormonal reactions in men, and that these effects are stronger for aggressively dominant men.

Language: en