Men in committed, romantic relationships have lower testosterone
Abstract
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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Studies with young adult men have found that being in a committed romantic relationship is associated with more frequent sexual intercourse and simultaneous declines in testosterone.
“For example, studies with young adult men have found that being in a committed romantic relationship is associated with more frequent sexual intercourse and simultaneous declines in testosterone (Burnham et al., 2003, Gray and Campbell, 2009).”
From Becoming a sexual being: The “elephant in the room” of adolescent brain development (2017) · cites this paper as Burnham et al., 2003
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“As has been found in other studies (46, 47), men who were in a long-term relationship had significant lower basal testosterone than the remaining participants (mean± SE: long-term: 22.”
ResultCavanaugh, J., Mustoe, A. C., Taylor, J. H., & French, J. A. (2014) · Psychoneuroendocrinology · doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2014.06.020 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
- Authors
- Burnham, T. C., Chapman, J. F., Gray, P. B., McIntyre, M. H., Lipson, S. F., & Ellison, P. T.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Burnham, T.C
- Venue
- Hormones and Behavior
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2003-08
- Volume
- 44
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 119-122
- ISSN
- 0018-506X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2143475137
- Cited by
- 260
- References
- 26
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 23 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 14 · 2012: 14
- FWCI
- 11.95
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Hormones and Behavior (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Harvard Business School
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Keywords
- testosterone, committed romantic relationships, pair bonding, marital status, male reproductive effort, mating effort, saliva testosterone
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Humans, Male, Saliva, Sexual Behavior, Testosterone, Parenting, Marital Status
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