Depression in men is associated with more feminine finger length ratios

Bailey, Allison A.; Hurd, Peter L.

doi:10.1016/j.paid.2004.12.017

Cited by 67 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Emotional processing shows a female advantage in children and adults (McClure, 2000). Further, compared to the other features of borderline personality (negative relationship, impulsivity/self-harm, and identity conflict), mood dysregulation is most closely related to affective traits associated previously with more female-typical digit ratios, including neuroticism, depression, and anxiety (Bailey & Hurd, 2005;Fink, Manning & Neave, 2004). Therefore, it is possible that any influence of prenatal hormones on borderline personality may be driven primarily by an atypical sexual differentiation of brain regions integral to mood and behavioral regulation (e.g., the amygdala and hypothalamus).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…In contrast, larger 2D:4D ratios (indicative of more female-typical levels of prenatal hormones) have been observed in individuals with female-linked disorders or related traits, including depression and eating disorders (Bailey & Hurd, 2005;Klump et al, 2006) Borderline personality is a disorder diagnosed in clinical settings three times more commonly in women than in men (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Borderline personality traits in women also worsen following oral contraceptive use and during phases of the menstrual cycle marked by increasing estrogen levels (De Soto, Geary, Hoard, Sheldon, & Cooper, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Hormones and borderline personality features

Evardone

Alexander

Morey

2008

Personality and Individual Differences

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Borderline personality is diagnosed in clinical settings three times more often in women than in men, and symptom severity in women appears sensitive to circulating sex steroid levels. In non-human mammals, prenatal hormones contribute to the development of sex-linked behavior and their responsiveness to postnatal hormones. Therefore, this study examined the hypothesis that prenatal hormones may influence the development of borderline personality traits by measuring a marker of perinatal androgen action, the 2D:4D ratio, and salivary hormone levels in 58 men and 52 women. Participants completed the Borderline Features Subscales (BOR) of the Personality Assessment Inventory, gender role questionnaires, and four sex-linked cognitive tasks. Digit ratios were a significant predictor of the affective component of borderline personality, such that in both sexes 2D:4D ratios suggestive of weaker perinatal androgen action contributed to greater borderline personality features overall and greater affective instability. In addition, women reporting greater affective instability showed larger changes in estradiol across the session, consistent with the influence of stress and emotional reactivity on hormonal function. These findings are consistent with an increasing body of research suggesting that hormonal factors associated with the expression of typical gender-linked behavior may also contribute to the expression of gender-linked maladaptive behavior.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hormones and borderline personality features

Evardone

Alexander

Morey

2008

Personality and Individual Differences

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“…However, such an association between 2D:4D ratio and trait anxiety is consistent with other research showing significant associations between digit ratio and sex-linked psychopathology. Masculine 2D:4D ratios and other related digit ratios, hypothesized to reflect greater perinatal androgen action, have been associated with male-typical disorders, such as autism and ADHD, (Manning et al, 2001;, whereas feminine digit ratios, hypothesized to reflect lower perinatal androgen action, have been associated with female-typical psychopathology, such as trait depression (Bailey & Hurd, 2005b) and eating disorder symptoms (Klump et al, 2006). A relationship between digit ratios and anxiety in men is also supported by previous research showing a positive association between 2D:4D ratio and what are often thought as precursors to anxiety in adulthood: anxious behavior in childhood and degree of neuroticism in adults (Fink et al, 2004).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The 2D:4D ratio has been studied in the context of reproductive success (Manning et al, 2000), sex-typed behavior (Csathó et al, 2003a), spatial/cognitive abilities (Csathó et al, 2003b;Kempel et al, 2005;Manning, 2002; but see Coolican & Peters, 2003), adult personality characteristics (Austin, Manning, McInroy, & Matthews, 2002;Bailey & Hurd, 2005a;Fink, Manning, & Neave, 2004), and more recently in the context of psychopathology (Arato, Frecska, Beck, An, & Kiss, 2004;Bailey & Hurd, 2005b;Klump et al, 2006;Manning, BaronCohen, Wheelwright, & Sanders, 2001;McFadden, Westhafer, Pasanen, Carlson, & Tucker, 2005;Walder, Andersson, McMillan, Breedlove, & Walker, 2006). Generally, digit ratios show positive correlations with female-typical behaviors and negative correlations with male-typical behaviors (for review, see Putz, Gaulin, Sporter, & McBurney, 2004), and this pattern of results appears to generalize to sex-linked psychopathology.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent research on eating disorders (Klump et al, 2006) and depression (Bailey & Hurd, 2005b, but see Martin, Manning, & Dowrick, 1999) suggests larger 2D:4D ratios may be associated with an increased risk for disorders that occur more frequently in females. Although anxiety disorders occur more often in women than in men (Pigott, 2003;Shear, Feske, & Greeno, 2000), to our knowledge no previous studies have reported the relation between digit ratios and adult levels of anxiety.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Anxiety, Sex-Linked Behaviors, and Digit Ratios (2D:4D)

Evardone

Alexander

2007

Arch Sex Behav

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The second to fourth (2D:4D) digit ratio, a sexually dimorphic, phenotypic characteristic putatively associated with perinatal androgen action, has been used to evaluate the hypothesized relation between prenatal hormonal factors and a variety of sexually dimorphic behaviors, including sexlinked psychopathology. Smaller digit ratios, suggestive of stronger perinatal androgen action, have been associated with male-linked disorders (e.g., autism), and larger digit ratios, suggestive of weaker perinatal androgen action, have been associated with female-linked disorders (e.g., depression and eating disorders). To evaluate the possible relation between digit ratio and another traditionally female-linked disorder, anxiety, 2D:4D ratios were measured in a non-clinical sample (58 men, 52 women). Participants also completed a battery of anxiety and gender role measures and performed two spatial/cognitive tasks typically showing a male advantage (mental rotation and targeting) and two tasks typically showing a female advantage (location memory and spatial working memory). Men with a more feminine pattern of sex-linked traits and behaviors (including digit ratios) reported greater anxiety. In contrast, greater anxiety in women was associated with both female-typical and male-typical traits and behaviors, and no significant association between digit ratio and anxiety was found. This pattern of results suggests that the development of anxiety is multiply determined, with contributing factors varying by sex.

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Anthropometric measures do not explain the 2D:4D ratio sexual dimorphism in 7‐year‐old children

Jägetoft

Hallerbäck

Julin

et al. 2022

American J Hum Biol

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Objectives Digit ratio (2D:4D) might reflect prenatal testosterone exposure and has been used as a putative marker for androgen related outcomes. However, such associations might be inflicted by confounders. Application of 2D:4D in epidemiological research motivate identification of biological background determinants. We examined sex, anthropometric measures, and maternal factors as determinants of 2D:4D in Swedish 7‐year‐old children. Methods The study was embedded in the Swedish Environmental, Longitudinal, Mother and Child, Asthma and Allergy (SELMA) pregnancy cohort. A total of 870 pre‐pubertal children, median 7.5 years of age, were studied. A single assessor performed digit measurements from scanned photocopies using computer software. Child anthropometric measurements investigated were hand size, birthweight, recumbent birth length, standing height, weight, BMI, body fat percentage, and waist/hip circumference. Maternal factors included age, pregnancy length, parity, and education. Results We found a significant sexual dimorphism regarding digit lengths and 2D:4D, boys on average presenting a lower 2D:4D than girls also after adjustment for summed finger lengths and body fatness. In crude analyses, maternal age correlated with 2D:4D across the whole population and in females but not in adjusted models. No other study variables were associated with 2D:4D. Conclusion Digit ratio showed sexual dimorphism at the age of seven and seems to represent a true sex difference rather than an artifact and bias from hand size, body size or body fat content. Among the rest of our investigated variables, we found no determinants constituting important confounders in future research on 2D:4D ratio.

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Depression in men is associated with more feminine finger length ratios

Cited by 67 publications

References 38 publications

Hormones and borderline personality features

Hormones and borderline personality features

Anxiety, Sex-Linked Behaviors, and Digit Ratios (2D:4D)

Anthropometric measures do not explain the 2D:4D ratio sexual dimorphism in 7‐year‐old children

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