Women With High Testosterone Take Financial Risks

by Barbara McPherson | August 25, 2009 at 09:12 am

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Scientists at the University of Chicago conducted an experiment involving 500 business students and found that women with high testosterone levels take more financial risks than women with lower levels. Testosterone hormones are more usually associated with men, but testosterone is a naturally occuring hormone in both sexes. The amount each individual produces varies.

The researchers took saliva samples to measure the testosterone levels of each participant before and after the experiment. (Watch rugby players being tested for testosterone changes before, during, and after a match.)

What the team found is that men were more willing to take risks than women. In fact, the researchers saw a kind of "ceiling effect" in men, in which differences in financial risk-taking tapered off as testosterone levels increased.

But there was no difference in risk aversion between women and men with similar testosterone levels—and both sexes with high testosterone were more willing to gamble with their money.

While the experiment used a game as a model for behavior, followup work indicated that those individuals with higher testosterone levels also chose careers with more risky financial outcomes. The chances for success in these careers was not guaranteed by a willingness to take risks.