A study published in 2003 raises the question of the chicken and the egg: is it marriage that causes the male hormone levels to drop, or are those with a low level more likely to marry? Scientists have solutions
David Rap, Haaretz, News and Walla!
Testosterone and relationships. (Chart: "Haaretz")
The lowest level of testosterone was found in married fathers. Above them appeared men who are in a relationship but are not married and are not fathers of children. In a higher place - married men who do not have children. The highest male hormone level was recorded in singles who were not in a committed relationship.
The data were presented in 2003, in an article in the journal "Behavior Hormonesand", in which the results of a study with the participation of 112 young men were presented. The level of testosterone in their bodies was found based on a saliva sample they provided for nine days, every morning, between 10:20 and 10:00. The time of the examination was not determined according to a biological mechanism but because it was the time of the first break in the schedule of all the research participants - students at the Harvard Business School.
Can those who are alarmed by the results presented here be encouraged by the fact that the research was conducted among a special breed of the male species? Not really. Additional studies have verified the findings in recent years: high testosterone and committed relationships do not go hand in hand.
But it is not known what is the cause and what is the result - does a marital relationship in any way affect the level of the hormone in a man's body, or that men with a high level of testosterone rarely enter into long-term commitments. This question was summarized in an article published last October in the journal "Endocrinology Psycho neuro", in which a distinction was made between the terms State and Trait. Being separated from a spouse or child is an example of a "situation"; A low hormone level in a certain man's body is a "trait".
The article summarizes a study in which researchers tried to provide evidence for one of two theories explaining the correlation between committed relationships and low testosterone. 65 men, aged 40-28, participated in the study. They belonged to three groups: singles who are not in a committed relationship; married men without children; and married men, fathers of children aged four or less.
Each subject gave saliva samples for four days, three times a day: upon waking, at five in the evening and at nine in the evening. Unmarried men were asked to give samples on two working days and two days off; The married men - on two days when they spent more than 10 hours with their partners and on two days when they spent a few hours with them; And the married fathers - on two days in which they spent at least 10 hours with their children, compared to two days in which they spent a few hours with them.
The study reinforced the correlation found between low testosterone levels and committed relationships. However, there was no effect of being in the company of the partners or the children on the testosterone level, comparing the days of the study. According to the researchers, the findings strengthen the hypothesis that the low level of testosterone in men in committed relationships is a trait, and not a situation-dependent phenomenon.
In recent years, researchers have pointed to another correlation: between life in a marital framework and a long life expectancy in men. The latest studies, dealing with testosterone levels in committed men, may provide an explanation for this phenomenon. These men suffer less from the negative effects of the male hormone (and there are some) - both behavioral and physiological.
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