According to new research published in The Journal of Sex Research , testosterone levels appear to be significantly related to both the type of intimate relationships men and women engage in and their sexual behavior.
The researchers measured testosterone in saliva samples from nearly 4,000 adults and used questionnaires to investigate the links between the amount of androgens and how people express their sexuality.
NATASAL-3
Until now, testosterone has been commonly regarded as the biological driver of sexual desire in men, although the evidence is inconclusive. Its role in female desire is even less understood. However, findings from the third British National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal-3) provide the first detailed insights into how the hormone is involved differently in the sexual behavior of men and women at the population level.
Specifically, saliva samples from 3,722 participants (1,599 men and 2,123 women) between 18 and 74 years old were analyzed.
Men with higher levels of the hormone were more likely to have had more than one sexual partner at the same time in the past five years and to have had recent heterosexual vaginal intercourse. In women, testosterone levels were significantly higher in those who had ever experienced a same-sex relationship and reported lonely sexual activity (masturbation) more recently and more frequently. According to Wendy Macdowall of LSHTM:
Our data tend to confirm that differences between men and women must be understood by examining them in the context of social and hormonal influences on sexual function and behavior. The marked link of testosterone with masturbation among women, in the absence of an observed link with aspects of heterosexual sex, can be seen as consistent with the notion of a stronger moderating effect of social factors on hormonal influences on sex. women’s behavior.