Facial Width-To-Height Ratio (fWHR) Is Not Associated with Adolescent Testosterone Levels

Facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR) has been proposed as a sexually dimorphic signal in humans that develops under the influence of pubertal testosterone (T); however, no studies have examined the association between fWHR and T during the phase in which facial growth is canalized-adolescence. 

In a sample of adolescent Tsimane males, we evaluate the relationship between T, known T-derived traits (i.e. strength and voice pitch), and craniofacial measurements. If fWHR variation derives from T's effect on craniofacial growth during adolescence, several predictions should be supported: 1) fWHR should increase with age as T increases, 2) fWHR should reflect adolescent T (rather than adult T per se), 3) fWHR should exhibit velocity changes during adolescence in parallel with the pubertal spurt in T, 4) fWHR should correlate with T after controlling for age and other potential confounds, and 5) fWHR should show strong associations with other T-derived traits. Only prediction 4 was observed. 

Additionally, we examined three alternative facial masculinity ratios: facial width/lower face height, cheekbone prominence, and facial width/full face height. In contrast to fWHR, all three alternative measures show a strong age-related trend and are associated with both T and T-dependent traits. 

Overall, our results question the status of fWHR as a sexually-selected signal of pubertal T and T-linked traits.

Below:  Facial landmarks used to derive facial masculinity ratios

Below:  Facial masculinity ratios (a/b) by age, testosterone, and strength

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By:  Hodges-Simeon CR1, Hanson Sobraske KN2, Samore T1, Gurven M2, Gaulin SJ2.

• 1Department of Anthropology, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
• 2Department of Anthropology, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, United States of America. 

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Transgender Men and Pregnancy

Transgender people have experienced significant advances in societal acceptance despite experiencing continued stigma and discrimination. While it can still be difficult to access quality health care, and there is a great deal to be done to create affirming health care organizations, there is growing interest around the United States in advancing transgender health. 

The focus of this commentary is to provide guidance to clinicians caring for transgender men or other gender nonconforming people who are contemplating, carrying, or have completed a pregnancy. Terms transgender and gender nonconforming specifically refer to those whose gender identity (e.g., being a man) differs from their female sex assigned at birth. Many, if not most transgender men retain their female reproductive organs and retain the capacity to have children. 

Review of their experience demonstrates the need for preconception counseling that includes discussion of stopping testosterone while trying to conceive and during pregnancy, and anticipating increasing experiences of gender dysphoria during and after pregnancy. The clinical aspects of delivery itself fall within the realm of routine obstetrical care, although further research is needed into how mode and environment of delivery may affect gender dysphoria. Postpartum considerations include discussion of options for chest (breast) feeding, and how and when to reinitiate testosterone. 

A positive perinatal experience begins from the moment transgender men first present for care and depends on comprehensive affirmation of gender diversity.

Full article at:   http://goo.gl/Fo1LMb

By:  Juno Obedin-Maliver1,2 and Harvey J Makadon3,4

¹Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

²Department of Gynecology, San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center, San Francisco, CA, USA

³National LGBT Health Education Center, The Fenway Institute, Boston, MA, USA

⁴Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

Harvey J Makadon, National LGBT Health Education Center, The Fenway Institute, 1340 Boylston Street, Boston, MA, USA

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Heavy Testosterone Use among Bodybuilders: An Uncommon Cohort of Illicit Substance Users

OBJECTIVE:

To identify and characterize patterns of use among a contemporary cohort of current anabolic-androgenic steroid (AAS) users.

PATIENTS AND METHODS:

An anonymous, self-administered, 49-item questionnaire was posted on message boards of Internet websites popular among AAS users and administered via SurveyMonkey from February 1, 2015, to June 1, 2015. Thirty-seven questions were analyzed for this study.

RESULTS:

A total of 231 male respondents met the inclusion criteria. 

• Most were white, were older than 25 years, were employed with above average income, and had received a formal education beyond high school. 
• 93% began using AAS after the age of 18 years, and 
• 81% reported using 400 mg or more of testosterone per week. 

Factors associated with longer duration of use (>5 years) included 

• higher incomes (≥$75,000, P=.003), 
• increased testosterone dosages (>600 mg per week, P=.007), 
• older age (≥35 years, P<.001), 
• being married (P<.001), 
• and being self-employed (P<.001). 

The Internet was the most common source of testosterone (53%). 

• 93% used at least one additional performance-enhancing drug. 
• 77% had routine laboratory tests performed, and 
• 38% reported laboratory abnormalities at some point. 

Nearly all experienced subjective adverse effects while using and not using testosterone. 

• 53% reported use of other illegal substances, 
• most commonly (90%) beginning before AAS initiation. 
• 10% had a criminal conviction, 
• 91% of which preceded AAS use. 
• 50% were felonies.

CONCLUSION:

The population of AAS users is disparate from that of other drugs of abuse. Laboratory test abnormalities and adverse effects are common and should be taken into account when counseling patients who may be using AASs.

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By:  Westerman ME1, Charchenko CM1, Ziegelmann MJ1, Bailey GC1, Nippoldt TB2, Trost L3.

• 1Department of Urology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.
• 2Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Nutrition, Department of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.
• 3Department of Urology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN. Electronic address: Trost.Landon@mayo.edu (http://www.mayoclinic.org/biographies/trost-landon-w-m-d/bio-20055549)
• Mayo Clin Proc. 2016 Jan 5. pii: S0025-6196(15)00890-3. doi: 10.1016/j.mayocp.2015.10.027. 

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Exogenous Testosterone Increases Men's Perceptions of Their Own Physical Dominance

Highlights

• Testosterone or a placebo was administered to healthy adult men using a within-subjects design.
• Self-perceptions of physical dominance were assessed using a novel ‘pick-your-own-face’ task.
• Men picked a more dominant-looking version of their own face after testosterone versus placebo.
• The effect that was particularly pronounced among men with relatively low baseline testosterone.
• Exogenous testosterone can modulate men’s perceptions of their own physical dominance.

Men's testosterone is associated with several constructs that are linked to dominance rank, such as risk-taking, mating success, and aggression. However, no study has directly tested the relationship between men's self-perceived dominance and testosterone using an experimental design. 

We employed a within-subjects, double-blind, placebo-controlled paradigm to assess whether testosterone influences men's self-perceived dominance. Exogenous testosterone or a placebo was administered to healthy adult men and self-perceptions of physical dominance were subsequently assessed by having participants select what they believed to be their true face from an array of images digitally manipulated in masculinity. Men picked a more masculine version of their own face after testosterone versus placebo-an effect that was particularly pronounced among men with relatively low baseline testosterone. 

These findings indicate that a single administration of testosterone can rapidly modulate men's perceptions of their own physical dominance, which may explain links between testosterone and dominance-related behaviors.

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By:   Welling LL1, Moreau BJ2, Bird BM3, Hansen S4, Carré JM5.

• 1Department of Psychology, Oakland University, 2200 N. Squirrel Road, Rochester, MI 48309, USA. Electronic address: welling@oakland.edu.
• 2Department of Psychology, Nipissing University, 100 College Drive, Box 5002, North Bay, ON P1B 8L7, Canada. Electronic address: benm@nipissingu.ca.
• 3Department of Psychology, Laurentian University, 935 Ramsey Lake Road, Sudbury, ON P3E 2C6, Canada. Electronic address: bbird@laurentian.ca.
• 4Physical and Health Education, Nipissing University, 100 College Drive, Box 5002, North Bay, ON P1B 8L7, Canada. Electronic address: steveh@nipissingu.ca.
• 5Department of Psychology, Nipissing University, 100 College Drive, Box 5002, North Bay, ON P1B 8L7, Canada. Electronic address: justinca@nipissingu.ca. 

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Interest in Babies Negatively Predicts Testosterone Responses to Sexual Visual Stimuli among Heterosexual Young Men

Men's testosterone may be an important physiological mechanism mediating motivational and behavioral aspects of the mating/parenting trade-off not only over time but also in terms of stable differences between mating-oriented and parenting-oriented individuals. 

In this study, we tested the hypothesis that self-reported interest in babies is inversely related to testosterone reactivity to cues of short-term mating among heterosexual young men. 

Among 100 participants, interest in babies was related to a slow life-history strategy, as assessed by the Mini-K questionnaire, and negatively related to testosterone responses to an erotic video. Interest in babies was not associated with baseline testosterone levels or with testosterone reactivity to nonsexual social stimuli. 

These results provide the first evidence that differential testosterone reactivity to sexual stimuli may be an important aspect of individual differences in life-history strategies among human males.

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By:  Zilioli S1, Ponzi D2, Henry A2, Kubicki K2, Nickels N2, Wilson MC2, Maestripieri D3.

• 1Department of Psychology, Wayne State University.
• 2Institute for Mind and Biology, The University of Chicago.
• 3Institute for Mind and Biology, The University of Chicago dario@uchicago.edu. 

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Effectiveness of a Low Dose Testosterone Undecanoate to Improve Sexual Function in Postmenopausal Women

Background

Adding testosterone to hormonal therapy could improve sexual function and general well-being among women during climacteric. We evaluated the effectiveness of testosterone undecanoate on sexual function in postmenopausal women utilizing the standardized questionnaire FSFI score.

Methods

Postmenopausal women with sexual complaints and Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) ≤ 26.5 were enrolled in to this randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial. Participants were randomly assigned to 8-week treatment with either oral testosterone undecanoate 40 mg or placebo twice weekly with daily oral estrogen. The FSFI scores before and after treatment were compared to assess any improvement of sexual function.

Results

Seventy women were recruited of which each group had 35 participants. The baseline characteristics and baseline FSFI scores were comparable between both groups. After 8 weeks of treatment, the FSFI scores significantly improved in both groups when compared to the baseline but the FSFI scores from the testosterone group were significantly higher than in the placebo group post-treatment (28.6 ± 3.6, 25.3 ± 6.7, respectively, p = 0.04). There was no difference in adverse effect between the two groups.

Conclusions

The twice weekly addition of testosterone undecanoate to daily oral estrogen was associated with a significant improvement in sexual function among postmenopausal women than the use of the estrogen alone.

Full article at:  http://goo.gl/pZONtz

By:  Reuthairat Tungmunsakulchai^1*, Sukanya Chaikittisilpa¹, Thiti Snabboon², Krasean Panyakhamlerd¹, Unnop Jaisamrarn¹ and Nimit Taechakraichana¹

¹Menopause Research Unit, Reproductive Medicine Division, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Rama IV Road, Bangkok 10330, Thailand

²Endocrinology and Metabolism Unit, Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Rama IV Road, Bangkok 10330, Thailand

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Identification with Stimuli Moderates Women's Affective and Testosterone Responses to Self-Chosen Erotica

Sexual thoughts are sufficient to increase testosterone (T) in women, yet erotic films are not. A key confound in past studies is autonomy in stimulus selection: women choose the content of their sexual thoughts but films have been selected by researchers. We hypothesized that self-chosen erotic films, compared to researcher-chosen erotic films, would (1) increase women's self-reported arousal, enjoyment, and identification with stimuli, and decrease negative affect; and (2) increase T. 

Participants (N = 116 women) were randomly assigned to a neutral documentary condition or one of three erotic film conditions: high choice (self-chosen erotica from participants' own sources), moderate choice (self-chosen erotica from films preselected by sexuality researchers), or no choice (researcher-chosen erotica). Participants provided saliva samples for T before and after viewing the film in the privacy of their homes. 

Compared to researcher-chosen erotica, self-chosen erotica increased self-reported arousal and enjoyment, but also unexpectedly disgust, guilt, and embarrassment. Self-chosen erotica only marginally increased identification with stimuli compared to researcher-chosen erotica. Overall, film condition did not affect T, but individual differences in identification moderated T responses: among women reporting lower levels of identification, the moderate choice condition decreased T compared to the no choice condition, but this difference was not observed among women with higher identification. 

These results highlight the importance of cognitive/emotional factors like identification for sexually modulated T. However, self-chosen erotica results in more ambivalent rather than unequivocally positive cognitive/emotional responses, perhaps because stigma associated with viewing erotica for women becomes more salient when choosing stimuli.

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By:  Goldey KL1, van Anders SM2.

• 1Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.
• 2Departments of Psychology and Women's Studies; Programs in Neuroscience and Reproductive Sciences; Science, Technology, and Society Program; Biosocial Methods Collaborative, University of Michigan, 530 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA. smva@umich.edu.

 

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Poorer Subjective Sleep Quality is Related to Higher Fantasy-Induced Sexual Arousal in Women of Reproductive Age

Lack of sleep enhances erections and lubrication the next day. This raises the possibility that poorer subjective sleep quality is related to sexual arousal. 

To test this hypothesis, sexual arousal was elicited in 70 Portuguese women of reproductive age by means of fantasy. Salivary testosterone before and shortly after fantasy was determined by luminescence immunoassays. 

Participants completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, reported their sexual arousal before and during fantasy, and how anxious they were after the fantasy. The hypothesis was confirmed. 

Anxiety did not explain the association, but testosterone response (post-stimulus minus baseline) had a slight explanatory effect.

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By: Costa RM1, Oliveira TF1.

• 1 Unidade de Investigação em Eco-Etologia, ISPA - Instituto Universitário , Lisbon , Portugal.

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Effects of Gendered Behavior on Testosterone in Women and Men

Testosterone is typically understood to contribute to maleness and masculinity, although it also responds to behaviors such as competition. Competition is crucial to evolution and may increase testosterone but also is selectively discouraged for women and encouraged for men via gender norms. 

We conducted an experiment to test how gender norms might modulate testosterone as mediated by two possible gender→testosterone pathways. Using a novel experimental design, participants (trained actors) performed a specific type of competition (wielding power) in stereotypically masculine vs. feminine ways. 

We hypothesized in H1 (stereotyped behavior) that wielding power increases testosterone regardless of how it is performed, vs. H2 (stereotyped performance), that wielding power performed in masculine but not feminine ways increases testosterone. We found that wielding power increased testosterone in women compared with a control, regardless of whether it was performed in gender-stereotyped masculine or feminine ways. 

Results supported H1 over H2: stereotyped behavior but not performance modulated testosterone. These results also supported theory that competition modulates testosterone over masculinity. Our findings thus support a gender→testosterone pathway mediated by competitive behavior. 

Accordingly, cultural pushes for men to wield power and women to avoid doing so may partially explain, in addition to heritable factors, why testosterone levels tend to be higher in men than in women: A lifetime of gender socialization could contribute to "sex differences" in testosterone. 

Our experiment opens up new questions of gender→testosterone pathways, highlighting the potential of examining nature/nurture interactions and effects of socialization on human biology.

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By: van Anders SM1, Steiger J2, Goldey KL3.

• 1Departments of Psychology and Women's Studies, Program in Neuroscience, Reproductive Sciences and Science, Technology, and Society Programs, and Biosocial Methods Collaborative, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109; smva@umich.edu.
• 2The New Theater of Medicine, The George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences, Washington, DC 20052; Center for Research on Learning and Teaching Players Theatre Program, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109;
• 3Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109.  

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