Digit ratio (2D:4D) predicts sporting success among female fencers independent from physical, experience, and personality factors

Abstract

Research particularly focusing on male athletes and popular sports (running and soccer) suggests associations of lower (masculinized) second-to-fourth digit ratio (2D:4D), a putative marker of prenatal androgen action, with better sports performance. Studies focusing on women, non-mainstream sports, or controlling for covariates relevant for sporting success are still sparse. This study examined associations between 2D:4D and performance of both male and female athletes active in fencing (a non-mainstream sport dominated by male participants), while controlling for covariates. National fencing rankings and 2D:4D of 58 male and 41 female Austrian tournament fencers (mean age 24 years) were correlated. Among female, but not male, fencers, lower 2D:4D was related to better national fencing rankings. 2D:4D still accounted for incremental variance (12%) in fencing success, when the effects of salient performance factors (age, body mass index, years of fencing, training intensity, and the personality variables achievement, control, harm avoidance, and social potency) were controlled for (totaling 35% attributable variance). Athletes active in the most aggressive form (the sabre) had lower 2D:4D than those active in the other forms (épée and foil fencing). Sporting success in adult life might be partly prenatally programmed via long-lasting extragenital effects of testosterone.

Determinants of Coach Communication About Concussion Safety in US Collegiate Sport

“…It is also possible that many of the females who enter college coaching-many of whom were successful participants in sport themselves-subscribe to a traditionally masculine sport ethos of risk taking that closely resembles that of male coaches of male teams. To the extent that this is true, it may be a result of genetic or early life influences [65] or it may be the result of socialization over the course of their own athletic careers [66,67]. Little research to date has looked explicitly at the attitudes about toughness and playing through injury of female coaches.…”

Varsity athletes have lower 2D:4D ratios than other university students

“…Another reported that 2D:4D ratio in females was negatively correlated with the level achieved in sport participation (Paul, Kato, Hunkin, Vivekanandan, & Spector, 2006). A third study found that the 2D:4D ratio of elite fencers was negatively correlated with national rankings in females, but not in males (Voracek, Reimer, & Dressler, 2010). A fourth study examining this relationship in 72 females found no significant differences in 2D:4D ratios between athletes and controls (Latourelle, Elwess, & Elwess, 2008).…”

Digit ratios in two lacertid lizards: sexual dimorphism and morphological and physiological correlates

“…In populations varying from female fencers (Voracek et al 2010) to male sumo wrestlers (Tamiya et al 2011), individuals with lower digit ratios tend to be more successful. The information on non-human vertebrates is much scarcer and less consistent.…”