Citation

Grotzinger AD, Mann FD, Patterson MW, Tackett JL, Tucker-Drob EM, Harden KP. Psychol. Sci. 2018; 29(5): 688-699.

Affiliation

Population Research Center, University of Texas at Austin.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Association for Psychological Science, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1177/0956797617742981

PMID

29443645

Abstract

Although testosterone is associated with aggression in the popular imagination, previous research on the links between testosterone and human aggression has been inconsistent. This inconsistency might be because testosterone's effects on aggression depend on other moderators. In a large adolescent sample ( N = 984, of whom 460 provided hair samples), we examined associations between aggression and salivary testosterone, hair testosterone, and hair cortisol. Callous-unemotional traits, parental monitoring, and peer environment were examined as potential moderators of hormone-behavior associations. Salivary testosterone was not associated with aggression. Hair testosterone significantly predicted increased aggression, particularly at low levels of hair cortisol (i.e., Testosterone × Cortisol interaction). This study is the first to examine the relationship between hair hormones and externalizing behaviors and adds to the growing literature that indicates that androgenic effects on human behavior are contingent on aspects of the broader endocrine environment-in particular, levels of cortisol.

Language: en

Keywords

Testosterone × Cortisol; aggression; hair hormones; rule breaking; salivary testosterone