School of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, Scotland, UK.
Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2013 Sep;38(9):1777-85. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2013.02.014. Epub 2013 Mar 23.
Millions of women use hormonal contraception and it has been suggested that such use may alter mate preferences. To examine the impact of oral contraceptive (pill) use on preferences, we tested for within-subject changes in preferences for masculine faces in women initiating pill use. Between two sessions, initiation of pill use significantly decreased women's preferences for male facial masculinity but did not influence preferences for same-sex faces. To test whether altered preference during pill use influences actual partner choice, we examined facial characteristics in 170 age-matched male partners of women who reported having either been using or not using the pill when the partnership was formed. Both facial measurements and perceptual judgements demonstrated that partners of women who used the pill during mate choice have less masculine faces than partners of women who did not use hormonal contraception at this time. Our data (A) provide the first experimental evidence that initiation of pill use in women causes changes in facial preferences and (B) documents downstream effects of these changes on real-life partner selection. Given that hormonal contraceptive use is widespread, effects of pill use on the processes of partner formation have important implications for relationship stability and may have other biologically relevant consequences.
数以百万计的女性使用激素避孕法，有人认为这种使用方式可能会改变她们对伴侣的偏好。为了研究口服避孕药（避孕药）使用对偏好的影响，我们测试了正在使用避孕药的女性对男性面孔的偏好是否发生了个体内变化。在两次测试之间，开始使用避孕药显著降低了女性对男性面部阳刚气质的偏好，但没有影响对同性面孔的偏好。为了测试避孕药使用期间改变的偏好是否会影响实际伴侣选择，我们检查了 170 名年龄匹配的女性的男性伴侣的面部特征，这些女性报告在伴侣关系形成时使用或不使用避孕药。面部测量和感知判断都表明，与在这个时候没有使用激素避孕的女性相比，选择伴侣时使用避孕药的女性的伴侣的面部特征更不具有阳刚之气。我们的数据提供了第一个实验证据，表明女性开始使用避孕药会导致对男性面部的偏好发生变化，并且记录了这些变化对现实生活中伴侣选择的后续影响。鉴于激素避孕法的广泛使用，避孕药使用对伴侣形成过程的影响对关系稳定性具有重要意义，并且可能具有其他生物学相关的后果。
