Monthly Patterns of Testosterone and Behavior in Prospective Fathers

Abstract

The individual time patterns of salivary testosterone of adult healthy men, self-reported sexual behavior and their co-occurrence with regular weekly or monthly intervals were studied. Twenty-seven volunteer males (mean age 33 ± 1 years) collected daily morning saliva over a period of 90 days. Evening questionnaires provided daily information on sexual activity. From the saliva, testosterone immunoreactive substances were determined using enzyme immunoassay. To detect events in which increases of testosterone were associated with sexual activity and at the same time controlling for regular internal patterns in men, data were analyzed using Theme software. First results indicated a varying number of complex nonrandom interaction patterns of testosterone with sexual activity, but also with weekly (i.e., Saturdays) and monthly intervals (i.e., 28-day full-moon intervals). The social context of the occurrence of specific pattern combinations was elaborated using parameters from the men's self-reported general life history profiles. Peak hormone levels occurred around weekends in the majority of the males. The 28-day monthly interval coincided with testosterone peaks only in those of the paired men who reported a current wish for children (“prospective fathers”), but not in unpaired men or in those who did not wish to have children with their current partner. Rather than representing a direct regular pattern of the male testosterone per se, the observed patterns suggest that men have the facultative potential to adjust their testosterone responses to their female partner's cycle. In line with the interactions between behavior and androgens observed in vertebrates in general, this study adds an example of the mutual character of hormone–behavior interactions and, thus, for the social context of testosterone patterns in human males.