Are sexual desire and sociosexual orientation related to men’s salivary steroid hormones?

Abstract

Objective: Although it is widely assumed that men’s sexual desire and interest in casual sex (i.e., sociosexual orientation) are linked to steroid hormone levels, evidence for such associations is mixed. Methods: We tested for both longitudinal and cross-sectional relationships between salivary testosterone, cortisol, reported sexual desire and sociosexuality in a sample of 61 young adult men, each of whom was tested weekly on up to five occasions. Results: Longitudinal analyses showed no clear relationships between steroid hormones and self-reported sexual desire or sociosexual orientation. Cross-sectional analyses showed no significant associations between average hormone levels and self-reported sexual desire. However, some aspects of sociosexuality, most notably desire for casual sex, were related to men’s average hormone levels. Men with higher average testosterone reported greater desire for casual sex, but only if they also had relatively low average cortisol. Conclusions: Our results support a Dual Hormone account of men’s sociosexuality, in which the combined effects of testosterone and cortisol predict the extent of men’s interest in casual sex. However, we did not detect compelling evidence for an association of within-subject hormone shifts and sexual desire or sociosexual orientation.

Stress System and Social Interaction Focusing on the Sexual Pathway

“…On the other hand, no differences have been observed in women's brain responses with regard to the attraction of men (4). However, other studies demonstrated an increase in testosterone and cortisol in women who watched attractive men and men who looked at attractive women (5,6). Thus the attractiveness is significantly related to sexual hormones (6).…”

Do voices carry valid information about a speaker's personality?

“…More precisely, lower voice pitch is linked to higher testosterone levels in men (Aung & Puts, 2020) and testosterone administration lowers voice pitch in biological females (Huang et al, 2015;Irwig, Childs, & Hancock, 2016). Further, higher testosterone has been linked to more unrestricted sociosexual orientation in women (Shirazi et al, 2019) and men (but only when cortisol levels are low; Stern et al, 2020a;Puts et al, 2015). Yet, it remains unclear whether individual differences in testosterone levels could potentially be a common cause explaining an association between voice pitch and sociosexual orientation (including all three facets).…”