Department of Environmental Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Jagiellonian University, Medical College, Grzegorzecka st. 20, 31-531 Krakow, Poland.
Cognition, Langues, Langage, Ergonomie, Université de Toulouse, CNRS-UMR 5263, Toulouse 31000, France; Institut Universitaire de France, 103 boulevard Saint-Michel, 75005 Paris, France.
Horm Behav. 2018 Jun;102:114-119. doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2018.05.013. Epub 2018 May 24.
Hormones are of crucial importance for human behavior. Cyclical changes of ovarian hormones throughout women's menstrual cycle are suggested to underlie fluctuation in masculinity preference for both faces and bodies. In this study we tested this hypothesis based on daily measurements of estradiol and progesterone throughout menstrual cycle, and multiple measurements of women's preference towards masculinity of faces and bodies of men. We expected that due to a large variation among daily hormonal levels we would not observe a direct effect of daily hormone levels, but rather that average levels of ovarian hormones throughout the cycle (a reliable marker of a probability of conception) would better predict women's preferences. We found a negative relationship between average progesterone levels and facial masculinity preference, but only among women who were in long-term relationships. There was no relationship between facial masculinity preference and either of the estradiol or progesterone daily levels. Similarly, only average levels of hormones were significantly related to facial symmetry preference. For women who were in relationships estradiol was positively related to symmetry preference, while for single women this relationship was opposite. For body masculinity preference there were no significant relationships with neither averaged nor daily hormonal levels. Taken together, our results further suggest that overall cycle levels of ovarian hormones (averaged for a cycle) are better predictors of facial masculinity and symmetry preference than daily levels assessed during preferences' tests. Importantly, including information about relationship status in the investigations of hormonal bases of preferences is crucial.
激素对人类行为至关重要。女性月经周期中卵巢激素的周期性变化被认为是导致男性面孔和身体吸引力波动的原因。在这项研究中，我们根据整个月经周期中雌激素和孕激素的日常测量值以及对女性对男性面孔和身体男性化的偏好的多次测量值来检验这一假设。我们预计，由于每日激素水平的变化很大，我们不会观察到每日激素水平的直接影响，而是整个周期中卵巢激素的平均水平（受孕概率的可靠标志物）将更好地预测女性的偏好。我们发现，孕激素的平均水平与面部男性化偏好呈负相关，但仅在长期处于性关系中的女性中如此。雌激素或孕激素的每日水平与面部男性化偏好均无关系。同样，只有激素的平均水平与面部对称性偏好显著相关。对于处于关系中的女性，雌激素与对称性偏好呈正相关，而对于单身女性，这种关系则相反。对于身体男性化偏好，平均水平或每日激素水平均与无显著关系。总的来说，我们的研究结果进一步表明，卵巢激素的总体周期水平（整个周期的平均值）比在偏好测试中评估的每日水平更能预测面部男性化和对称性偏好。重要的是，在对偏好的激素基础进行调查时，包括关于关系状况的信息至关重要。
