Men in committed,
romantic relationships have lower testosterone
T.C. Burnham, J. Flynn Chapman, P.B. Gray, M.H. McIntyre, S.F.
Lipson
and P.T. Ellison
Hormones and Behavior, 2003, 44:2:119-122
Variation in human male testosterone levels
may reflect, and effect,
differential behavioral allocation to mating and parenting effort. This
proposition leads
to the hypothesis that, among North American men,
those involved in committed, romantic relationships will have
lower
testosterone levels than men not involved in such relationships. Our
study is the first to examine whether
being in such a relationship
(rather than being married) is the meaningful predictor of male
testosterone levels.
To test this hypothesis, 122 male Harvard Business
School students filled out a questionnaire and collected one
saliva
sample (from which testosterone level was measured). Results revealed
that men in committed, romantic
relationships had 21% lower testosterone
levels than men not involved in such relationships. Furthermore,
the
testosterone levels of married men and unmarried men who were involved
in committed, romantic relationships
did not differ, suggesting that, at
least for this sample, male pair bonding status is the more
significant
predictor of testosterone levels than is marital status.
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The most likely explanation for these findings is
that men adapt to their long term partner\'s pheromones, so that the effect on testosterone levels is reduced.
This study lends some significance to product marketing of copulin-containing (pheromone-enhanced)fragrances
designed to increase men\'s interest by increasing their testosterone levels.
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