Oral contraceptive use in women changes preferences for male facial masculinity and is associated with partner facial masculinity

Millions of women use hormonal contraception and it has been suggested that such use may alter mate preferences. To examine the impact of oral contraceptive (pill) use on preferences, we tested for within-subject changes in preferences for masculine faces in women initiating pill use. Between two se...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Veröffentlicht in:Psychoneuroendocrinology Jg. 38; H. 9; S. 1777 - 1785
Hauptverfasser: Little, Anthony C., Burriss, Robert P., Petrie, Marion, Jones, Benedict C., Roberts, S. Craig
Format: Journal Article
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01.09.2013
Elsevier
Schlagworte:
Adolescent
Adult
Attractiveness
Behavioral psychophysiology
Biological and medical sciences
Choice Behavior - drug effects
Contraceptives, Oral - pharmacology
Disruption
Endocrinology & Metabolism
Face - anatomy & histology
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Hormones and behavior
Humans
Male
Marriage - psychology
Masculinity
Mate-choice
Menstrual Cycle
Oral contraception
Photography
Pill
Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Sex Characteristics
Sexual Partners
Young Adult
Oral contraception
Attractiveness
Disruption
Menstrual cycle
Pill
Mate-choice
Human
Male
Mate selection
Contraception
Preference
Female
Contraceptive
Face
Woman
Feminity masculinity
ISSN:0306-4530, 1873-3360, 1873-3360
Online-Zugang:Volltext
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:Millions of women use hormonal contraception and it has been suggested that such use may alter mate preferences. To examine the impact of oral contraceptive (pill) use on preferences, we tested for within-subject changes in preferences for masculine faces in women initiating pill use. Between two sessions, initiation of pill use significantly decreased women's preferences for male facial masculinity but did not influence preferences for same-sex faces. To test whether altered preference during pill use influences actual partner choice, we examined facial characteristics in 170 age-matched male partners of women who reported having either been using or not using the pill when the partnership was formed. Both facial measurements and perceptual judgements demonstrated that partners of women who used the pill during mate choice have less masculine faces than partners of women who did not use hormonal contraception at this time. Our data (A) provide the first experimental evidence that initiation of pill use in women causes changes in facial preferences and (B) documents downstream effects of these changes on real-life partner selection. Given that hormonal contraceptive use is widespread, effects of pill use on the processes of partner formation have important implications for relationship stability and may have other biologically relevant consequences.
Bibliographie:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ObjectType-Article-2
ObjectType-Feature-1
ISSN:0306-4530
1873-3360
1873-3360
DOI:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2013.02.014