Average Associations Between Sexual Desire, Testosterone, and Stress in Women and Men Over Time

Abstract

Sexual desire and testosterone are widely assumed to be directly and positively linked to each other despite the lack of supporting empirical evidence. The literature that does exist is mixed, which may result from a conflation of solitary and dyadic desire, and the exclusion of contextual variables, like stress, known to be relevant. Here, we use the Steroid/Peptide Theory of Social Bonds as a framework for examining how testosterone, solitary and partnered desire, and stress are linked over time. To do so, we collected saliva samples (for testosterone and cortisol) and measured desire as well as other variables via questionnaires over nine monthly sessions in 78 women and 79 men. Linear mixed models showed that testosterone negatively predicted partnered desire in women but not men. Stress moderated associations between testosterone and solitary desire in both women and men, but differently: At lower levels of stress, higher average testosterone corresponded to higher average solitary desire for men, but lower solitary desire on average for women. Similarly, for partnered desire, higher perceived stress predicted lower desire for women, but higher desire for men. We conclude by discussing the ways that these results both counter presumptions about testosterone and desire but fit with the existing literature and theory, and highlight the empirical importance of stress and gender norms.

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

“…However, our results for cross-sectional associations between aspects of men's dyadic sexual desire or overall sexual desire and steroid hormones are consistent with similar results that have been reported in other studies (Raisanen et al, 2018;van Anders et al, 2007;van Anders & Dunn, 2009;van Anders, 2012). Collectively, these results suggest that associations between average steroid hormone levels and sexual desire in men may not be robust, or that studies might have been underpowered to detect small significant associations between testosterone and solitary sexual desire.…”

“…Interestingly, in a different study, van Anders (2012) reports a significant correlation of between-subjects solitary sexual desire and testosterone levels, that is in the opposite direction (r = -.12) as the one reported by van Anders and Dunn (2009). Two other studies (Raisanen et al, 2018;van Anders et al 2007) report no significant associations of testosterone and solitary sexual desire. Overall, the pattern of results rather suggests that this effect might not be robust.…”

“…More precisely, analyzing hormone samples via mass spectrometry (LCMS) is seen as the gold standard, but all studies so far, including ours, used recently criticized immunoassays (for a detailed overview see Schultheiss et al, 2019). Moreover, most studies even used different types of immunoassays as used in the current study (Edelstein et al, 2011;Kordsmeyer et al, 2018;Raisanen et al, 2018;van Anders, 2012;van Anders & Dunn, 2009;van Anders et al, 2007). This might probably not only explain differences in specific results, but may also raise general uncertainty in interpreting results (e.g.…”

“…Study 2: n = 62 men Negative relationship between testosterone and number of sexual partners in the last 12 months (SOI-R behavior Item 1). Study 1: β = −.37 t = −2.63 p = .01; Study 2: β = −.27 t = −2.15 p = .036 Raisanen et al, 2018 n = 60 men who were included in the analyses Up to 9 sessions (but ~ 4 sessions on average and a total of 1,105 sessions). However, relevant analyses were cross-sectional.…”

Adult attachment and testosterone reactivity: Fathers' avoidance predicts changes in testosterone during the strange situation procedure

“…The intra-assay coefficient of variation (CV) was 10.17% for fathers and 15.25% for mothers; the inter-assay CV was 21.22% for fathers and 20.71% for mothers. Our intra-assay CVs, and particularly our inter-assay CVs, are somewhat high, although similar values have been obtained in other samples that have assessed salivary testosterone in both men and women, including studies that find associations between women's testosterone and other outcomes (e.g., Edelstein et al, 2014;Liening et al, 2010;Raisanen et al, 2018). Higher CVs suggest greater measurement error in our testosterone estimates; however, it is worth noting that such error does not appear to differ notably by gender in our sample, suggesting that any gender differences in our findings are not clearly attributable to gender differences in the precision of our hormone assays.…”