Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences © 2014 American Psychological Association

2014, Vol. 8, No. 2, 96 –108 2330-2925/14/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/h0099130

Ethnicity-Related Variation in Sexual Promiscuity, Relationship

Status, and Testosterone Levels in Men

Dario Maestripieri, Amanda Klimczuk, Daniel Traficonte, and M. Claire Wilson

The University of Chicago

The purpose of this study was to investigate potential ethnicity-related variation in

men’s relationship status, sexual promiscuity, and testosterone levels. Data from two
ethnically diverse subject populations were used. The first dataset included 302 male
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

graduate students (age range: 23–36 years; M ⫽ 28); the second dataset consisted of 77
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.

male undergraduate and graduate students (age range: 18 –38 years; M ⫽ 23). For both,
we collected information on ethnicity (European American, African American, His-
panic, or Asian American), relationship status (single, in a short-term or long-term
relationship, or married), and sexual promiscuity (number of lifetime sexual partners,
number of one-night stands, extrapair sexual activity), in addition to measuring salivary
testosterone concentrations. In both datasets testosterone levels were significantly
higher in single men than in men in relationships but this difference was reversed in
men of Asian American ethnicity. Asian American men had the lowest number of
sexual partners, one-night stands, and extrapair sexual activity across ethnic groups.
Moreover, among Asian Americans, men in relationships had a higher average number
of sexual partners than single men. Our results indicate that to understand the associ-
ation between relationship status and testosterone levels in men, ethnicity-related
variation in sexual activity in single men and men in relationships must be taken into
consideration.

Keywords: relationship status, testosterone, ethnicity, sexual behavior

In humans and many other animal species,
testosterone plays a key role in male mating-
related competition for status and resources and
in male courtship and sexual behavior (e.g.,
Nelson, 2011). In particular, because testoster-
one is expected to be elevated when males en-
gage in competition with other males as well as
during courtship and mating, but low when
males are monogamously paired and engaged in
parental behavior (e.g., Wingfield, Hegner,
Dufty, & Ball, 1990), understanding interindi-
vidual and intraindividual variation in male tes-
tosterone levels can provide insight into male
mating and parenting effort, which are key as-
pects of male life history (e.g., Bribiescas, 2006).
Dario Maestripieri, Amanda Klimczuk, Daniel Trafi-
conte, and M. Claire Wilson, Institute for Mind and Biol-
ogy, The University of Chicago.
Correspondence concerning this article should be ad-
dressed to Dario Maestripieri, The University of Chicago,
5730 S. Woodlawn Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637. E-mail:
dario@uchicago.edu
96
A growing number of human studies have
investigated variation in testosterone levels in
relation to relationship/marital status and mat-
ing and parenting effort. Two of the most con-
sistent findings that have emerged from this
body of research are that single men have higher
testosterone levels than men in relationships,
and that testosterone levels are particularly low
in married men with young children (e.g., Booth
& Dabbs, 1993; Burnham et al., 2003; Gray et
al., 2004; van Anders, Hamilton, & Watson,
2007; van Anders & Watson, 2006; see Gray &
Campbell, 2009, for a review). These correla-
tions between testosterone levels and relation-
ship, marital, and parental status, however, are
open to different interpretations. First, it is pos-
sible that there is no direct causal relationship
between testosterone levels and relationship sta-
tus but that these variables are independently
correlated with a third variable (e.g., a person-
ality trait). Second, it is possible that a causal
relationship exists such that high testosterone
induces males to remain single and low testos-
terone induces males to form monogamous repro-
 TESTOSTERONE AND RELATIONSHIP STATUS
ductive relationships and to invest in children.
Third, it is possible that being single raises a
male’s level of testosterone while being in a
monogamous relationship and investing in chil-
dren lowers testosterone. Clearly, understand-
ing if and how relationship status and testoster-
one are causally related is crucial for
understanding human male social and reproduc-
tive strategies, and more generally the evolution
of male life history traits.
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So far, most evidence seems to support the
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hypothesis that a causal association exists and
that relationship status affects testosterone lev-
els rather than the other way around. Some of
this evidence comes from longitudinal studies
reporting a decrease in men’s testosterone with
the transition to fatherhood (e.g., Berg, &
Wynne-Edwards, 2001; Gettler, McDade, Fera-
nil, & Kuzawa, 2011; Hirschenhauser et al.,
2002; Kuzawa, Gettler, Muller, McDade, & Fe-
ranil, 2009; Perini, Ditzen, Fischbacher, &
Ehlert, 2012; Storey, Walsh, Quinton, &
Wynne-Edwards, 2000); the mechanisms re-
sponsible for the reduction in testosterone could
be reduced frequency of sexual intercourse
(e.g., Gettler, McDade, Agustin, Feranil, & Ku-
zawa, 2013), exposure to frequent infant cries
(Fleming, Corter, Stallings, & Steiner, 2002;
Muller, Marlowe, Bugumba, & Ellison, 2009;
van Anders, Tolman, & Volling, 2012), ex-
tended bodily contact with infants through
cosleeping (Gettler, McKenna, McDade, Agus-
tin, & Kuzawa, 2012), or simply significant
involvement in caregiving (e.g., Jasienska,
Jasienski, & Ellison, 2012).
One possible explanation for high testoster-
one levels in single men is that they are, on
average, more involved in courtship of multiple
potential sexual partners than men in stable
monogamous relationships; in turn, interaction
with multiple (potential) sexual partners or sim-
ply the desire for a high variety of sexual part-
ners is known to raise a man’s testosterone (e.g.,
van Anders, Hamilton, & Watson, 2007; van
Anders & Goldey, 2010; Roney, Mahler, &
Maestripieri, 2003; Roney, Lukaszewski, &
Simmons, 2007). For example, polygynously
married Kenyan Swahili men exhibit higher tes-
tosterone levels than monogamously married
men (Gray, 2003), polyamorous North Ameri-
can men have higher testosterone levels than
partnered and even single men (van Anders et
al., 2007), and testosterone levels are higher in
97
monogamous men who engage in frequent ex-
trapair sexual fantasies and encounters than in
those who do not (McIntyre et al., 2006).
In this study, we further investigated the as-
sociation between relationship status, sexual
promiscuity (defined as desire for or interaction
with multiple sexual partners), and male testos-
terone levels. To this end, we investigated not
only differences between single men and men in
relationships but also variation within each
group. Our working hypothesis was that, just as
the category of paired men is heterogeneous and
includes both men who desire or engage in
extramarital sexual activities and those who
don’t, the single men category is probably het-
erogeneous as well and includes both highly
sexually active men (e.g., men who are single
by choice in order to maximize their opportu-
nities to engage in promiscuous sex) and less
sexually active men (e.g., men who are single
by choice to avoid sexual relationships alto-
gether and focus on other aspects of their lives
as well as men who are single by constraint,
because they are unable to find a partner).
One source of variation in attitudes about
being single and sexually promiscuous or in a
faithful/unfaithful monogamous relationship is
cultural norms concerning men’s sexual re-
straint and relationship models in different eth-
nic groups or societies (Gray & Campbell,
2009). For example, studies comparing differ-
ent ethnic groups in North America have indi-
cated that Asian American males exhibit greater
sexual conservatism and less sexual experience
than men in other ethnic groups (Meston, Trap-
nell, & Gorzalka, 1996; Okazaki, 2002).
In this study, we tested the hypothesis that
ethnicity-related variation in sexual promiscuity
could potentially affect both the magnitude and
the direction of the relationship between testos-
terone and relationship status: specifically, we
predicted that Asian American males should be
less sexually promiscuous than males in other
ethnic groups, and that the previously reported
difference in testosterone between single and
paired men should not occur among Asian
Americans or be significantly smaller in this
group than in other ethnic groups. To test our
hypotheses, we first investigated the relation-
ship between ethnicity, relationship status, and
testosterone in a historical database established
in 2008. Then we investigated the potential role
of sexual promiscuity in a new study conducted
 98 MAESTRIPIERI, KLIMCZUK, TRAFICONTE, AND WILSON
in 2013, which involved a smaller sample size
but more detailed measures of sexual promiscu-
ity. To our knowledge, this study is the first
investigation of the role of ethnicity in the as-
sociation between men’s relationship status,
sexual behavior, and testosterone levels. The
study of human mating strategies has increas-
ingly incorporated physiological, social, and
cultural variables and examined not only be-
tween-sex but also within-sex variation. There-
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fore, this study enhances our knowledge of the
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social and cultural context for within-sex vari-
ation in male mating strategies as well as our
knowledge of the relationship between mating
effort and testosterone in male life histories.
Method
2008 Dataset
Study participants were 325 male MBA stu-
dents in a private midwestern university. These
individuals were part of a larger dataset that
included a total of 348 males and 153 females.
Data from females were not considered in this
study. Data from 23 male subjects were not
included because information about some of the
variables of interest in this study (see below)
was incomplete or missing. These individuals
were recruited in 2008 to participate in a study
of financial risk-taking and stress reactivity
(Maestripieri, Baran, Sapienza, & Zingales,
2010; Sapienza, Zingales, & Maestripieri,
2009). Participation in the study was a course
requirement therefore it was mandatory for the
entire 2008 cohort of MBA students. Students,
however, were paid $20 or more for their par-
ticipation. The use of human subjects was ap-
proved by the IRB and all students were asked
for informed written consent for their participa-
tion in the study.
Study participants filled out a questionnaire
in which they provided information about their
age, ethnicity (participants were given a list of
ethnicities and asked to choose the one with
which they identified; individuals with multiple
ethnicities were asked to identify a primary
one), and relationship status (single or in a
relationship). The survey also included ques-
tions about sexual orientation and number of
lifetime sexual partners but answering these two
questions was not mandatory and many partic-
ipants did not answer them. The participants
took a 1-hr computerized test and gave two
saliva samples, one before and one after the test.
All saliva samples were collected between 1:30
p.m. and 5:00 p.m. (time of sample collection
did not significantly affect testosterone levels).
Participants were asked not to eat any food,
drink anything other than water, or smoke for at
least 1 hr prior to the study. Saliva samples were
assayed for testosterone concentrations (see
Maestripieri et al., 2010; Sapienza et al., 2009;
for details on sample collection and hormonal
assays). The means of the testosterone concen-
trations of the two samples were used for data
analyses.
Mean age (⫾ SE) of the 325 study partici-
pants was 28.75 (⫾ 0.12) years; age range was
23–36 years. Ethnicity and relationship status
were distributed as follows: 160 European
American (the terms European American and
Caucasian are used interchangeably in this arti-
cle; single ⫽ 100; in relationship ⫽ 60); 25
African American (for brevity, referred to as
African; single ⫽ 20; in relationship ⫽ 5); 30
Hispanic American (for brevity, referred to as
Hispanic; single ⫽ 12; in relationship ⫽ 18); 50
Far East Asian American (for brevity, referred
to as FE Asian; single ⫽ 26; in relationship ⫽
24); 60 Indian American (for brevity, referred to
as Indian; single ⫽ 30; in relationship ⫽ 30).
Each ethnic group included both people born in
foreign countries and people born in the U.S.A.
(e.g., the FE Asian category included both men
born in China and Japan and Chinese American
and Japanese American men born in the U.S.A.).
Indians included both people born in India or
Bangladesh and people born in the U.S.A., with
family origins in India or Bangladesh. There
were no significant differences in age or rela-
tionship status among the five ethnic groups.
2013 Dataset
Study participants were 77 male young
adults. Approximately 80% of the study partic-
ipants were undergraduate or graduate students
(but there were no MBA students among them)
at the same university where the 2008 study was
conducted, and most of the others were em-
ployed by this university under various capaci-
ties (e.g., research or administrative staff). Par-
ticipants were part of a larger study that also
included 75 female participants but female data
were not considered in this study. Study partic-
 TESTOSTERONE AND RELATIONSHIP STATUS
ipants were recruited in 2013 through fliers
posted on campus, mailing lists, or a human
subject recruitment Web site (Sona System). All
study participants completed a written informed
consent form before participating in the study
and were paid $ 20 after completion of the
procedures. The use of human subjects was
approved by the IRB.
Study participants were asked to provide a
saliva sample and to complete a series of ques-
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tionnaires online or on paper. Saliva samples
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were collected and stored in ice using the same
procedures used for the 2008 study (e.g., all
samples were collected in the early afternoon
and time of sample collection did not affect
testosterone levels). Samples were later shipped
to the Hominoid Reproductive Ecology Labo-
ratory at the University of New Mexico, where
they were assayed for testosterone, using the
Salimetrics salivary testosterone ELISA (Cata-
log 1–2402, Salimetrics, LLC, State College,
PA). The sensitivity of this assay is approxi-
mately 1 pg/ml. The antibody has significant
cross-reactivities with dihydrotestosterone
(36%) and 19-nortestosterone (21%), neither of
which is expected in appreciable quantities in
the saliva of healthy adults. All other cross-
reactivities are ⬍2%. Interassay coefficients of
variation (N ⫽ 6) were 5% for a high sample
and 14% for a low sample. Intraassay CV (mean
CV of duplicates) was 3%. Testosterone data
were available for only 62 of the 77 study
participants.
An initial demographic survey asked infor-
mation about participants’ age, ethnicity (as-
sessed with the same procedure used for the
2008 dataset), sexual orientation, and relation-
ship status (single or in a relationship; for some
data analyses, the relationship category was di-
vided into subgroups; see below). The other
questionnaires asked questions about personal-
ity characteristics and romantic and sexual ex-
perience and preferences. For the purposes of
this study, four questionnaire items were used:
(a) the total number of partners with whom
study participants had engaged in vaginal, anal,
or oral sex over the lifetime; (b) the total num-
ber of one-night stands the study participants
had had in their lifetime; (c) the total number of
partners with whom they had had extrapair sex
in their lifetime; and (d) the frequency of fan-
tasizing about having extrapair sex (on a scale
from 1 ⫽ Never, to 8 ⫽ at least once a day).
99
Data for items (c) and (d) were analyzed only
for participants who were in a relationship at the
time the study was conducted.
Mean age (⫾ SE) of the 77 participants was
23.17 (⫾ 0.50) years; age range was 18 –38 years.
Ethnicity and relationship status were distributed
as follows: 42 European American (i.e., Cauca-
sian; single ⫽ 8; in relationship ⫽ 34); eight
African (single ⫽ 4; in relationship ⫽ 4); 14
Hispanic (single ⫽ 6; in relationship ⫽ 8); 13
Asian (single ⫽ 6; in relationship ⫽ 7; this
category included eight East Asian and five
Indian men; data analyses provided similar re-
sults whether the five Indian men were included
in the Asian group or excluded; therefore they
were included to increase sample size). As was
the case for the 2008 database, each ethnic
group included both people born in foreign
countries and people born in the U.S.A. There
were no significant differences in age or rela-
tionship status among the four ethnic groups.
Sixty-eight participants self-described their sex-
ual orientation as heterosexual or mainly het-
erosexual, seven as homosexual or mainly ho-
mosexual, and two as bisexual.
Results
2008 Dataset
A two-way ANOVA examining the effects of
ethnic group and relationship status on testos-
terone concentrations revealed both a main ef-
fect of relationship status, F(1, 315) ⫽ 4.16,
(p ⬍ .05), with single men having higher tes-
tosterone than men in relationships, and a sig-
nificant interaction between relationship status
and ethnicity, F(4, 315) ⫽ 2.40, (p ⫽ .05). As
Figure 1a illustrates, among Caucasians, Afri-
cans, and Hispanics, single men had signifi-
cantly higher testosterone than men in relation-
ships (all p ⬍ .05). Among Indians this
difference was much smaller and nonsignifi-
cant, and Far East Asians showed a significant
difference in the opposite direction: single men
had lower testosterone than men in relationships
(p ⬍ .05). There was no significant main effect
of ethnicity on testosterone concentrations.
2013 Dataset
Figure 1b depicts testosterone concentrations
in Caucasian, African, Hispanic, and Asian men
 100 MAESTRIPIERI, KLIMCZUK, TRAFICONTE, AND WILSON
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Figure 1. (a). Mean (⫹ SE) testosterone levels in single men and men in relationships in five
different ethnic groups. Data are from the 2008 dataset. Sample sizes were as follows: 160
Caucasian (single ⫽ 100; in relationship ⫽ 60); 25 African (single ⫽ 20; in relationship ⫽
5); 30 Hispanic (single ⫽ 12; in relationship ⫽ 18); 50 Far East Asian (single ⫽ 26; in
relationship ⫽ 24); 60 Indian (single ⫽ 30; in relationship ⫽ 30). (b). Mean (⫹ SE)
testosterone levels in single men and men in relationships in four different ethnic groups (for
brevity, European American is labeled Caucasian, African American is African, Hispanic
American is Hispanic, and Asian American is Asian). Data are from the 2013 dataset. Sample
sizes were as follows: 34 Caucasian (single ⫽ 4; in a relationship ⫽ 30); eight African
(single ⫽ 2; in a relationship ⫽ 6); 10 Hispanic (single ⫽ 5; in a relationship ⫽ 5); 10 Asian
(single ⫽ 5; in a relationship ⫽ 5).
 TESTOSTERONE AND RELATIONSHIP STATUS
who were single or in a relationship. A two-way
ANOVA revealed a significant interaction be-
tween relationship status and ethnicity, F(3,
54) ⫽ 4.84, (p ⫽ .004). The pattern was similar
to that observed in the 2008 dataset: among
Caucasians, Africans and Hispanics, single men
had higher testosterone than men in relation-
ships. The opposite was true among Asians. The
differences were statistically significant for
Caucasians (t ⫽ ⫺3.2; df ⫽ 32; p ⬍ .01),
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Hispanics (t ⫽ ⫺3.11; df ⫽ 8; p ⫽ .01), and
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Asians (t ⫽ ⫺3.02; df ⫽ 8; p ⬍ .05) but not for
Africans (t ⫽ ⫺0.7; df ⫽ 6; NS), probably
because of the small sample size (only two
African men were single).
Figure 1b shows that Asian single men had,
on average, the lowest testosterone levels
among all single men, and Asian men in rela-
tionships had, on average, the highest testoster-
one levels of all men in relationships. Variation
in testosterone among the single men in the four
ethnic groups was statistically significant, F(2,
15) ⫽ 4.91, (p ⫽ .01). Post hoc tests indicated
that Asian single men had significantly lower
testosterone than both Caucasian (p ⬍ .05) and
Hispanic single men (p ⬍ .05). Asian men had
lower testosterone than African single men (n ⫽
2) as well but the difference was not significant,
probably due to the small sample size for this
comparison. Variation in testosterone levels
among the men in relationships in the four eth-
nic groups was not statistically significant, F(3,
45) ⫽ 1.55; NS.
Figure 2a depicts the number of lifetime sex-
ual partners for Asian men who were single and
in relationships and for men who were single
and in relationships in the other ethnic groups
(Caucasian, African, and Hispanic) combined.
Asian men, regardless of relationship status, had
a significantly lower number of sexual partners
than the other men, F(1, 72) ⫽ 6.19, (p ⫽ .01).
Among Asians, men in relationships had a
higher average number of sexual partners than
single men, whereas the opposite was true for
men in the other ethnic groups. The statistical
interaction between ethnic group and relation-
ship status, however, was not significant. Figure
2b shows the total number of one-night stands
in Asian men and men from the other ethnic
groups, separately for single men and men in
relationships. Asian men had significantly fewer
one-night stands than other men, regardless of
relationship status, F(1, 72) ⫽ 4.86, (p ⫽ .03).
101
Of the men who were in relationships, Asian
men reported that they had never had extrapair
sex in their lifetime, and the others reported that
they had had on average approximately one
episode (0.81 ⫹ 0.33) of extrapair sex in their
lifetime. Asian men in relationships also fanta-
sized about extrapair sex, on average, less fre-
quently (3.33 ⫹ 1.2) than other men in relation-
ships (4.47 ⫹ 0.29). Neither the difference in
extrapair sex nor the difference in extrapair sex
fantasy, however, was statistically significant
(Extrapair sex: t ⫽ ⫺0.87; df ⫽ 52; NS; Ex-
trapair sex fantasy: t ⫽ ⫺1.25; df ⫽ 48; NS).
Testosterone was not significantly correlated
with lifetime number of sexual partners (r ⫽
.07; n ⫽ 61; NS), lifetime number of one-night
stands (r ⫽ .03; n ⫽ 61; NS), lifetime number
of extrapair sex events (r ⫽ .06; n ⫽ 45; NS), or
frequency of extrapair sex fantasies (r ⫽ .02;
n ⫽ 41; NS).
In the next set of analyses, testosterone data
for Caucasians, Africans, and Hispanics were
pooled together and men in relationships were
subdivided into three categories depending on
whether they were in short-term (less than 6
months) relationships, in long-term (more than
6 months) relationships, or married. Figure 3
illustrates the testosterone data for men in these
relationship categories along with data for sin-
gle men. A one-way ANOVA revealed a signif-
icant difference in testosterone concentrations
among the four groups, F(3, 51) ⫽ 10.54, (p ⬍
.0001). Bonferroni-Dunn post hoc tests indi-
cated that single men had higher testosterone
than men in the other three groups (all p ⬍ .05),
married men had lower concentrations than men
in the other three groups (all p ⬍ .05), and men
in short-term relationships had higher concen-
trations than men in long-term relationships
(p ⬍ .05).
Figure 4a illustrates the lifetime number of
sexual partners for Caucasian, African, and His-
panic men who were single and in short-term
relationships, long-term relationships, or mar-
ried. Although men who were single and in
short-term relationships had a higher average
number of sexual partners than men in long-
term relationships or married, the overall differ-
ence among the four groups was not statistically
significant, F(3, 63) ⫽ 1.85; NS. Figure 4b
shows the lifetime number of one-night stands
for Caucasian, African, and Hispanic men who
were single and men who were in short-term
 102 MAESTRIPIERI, KLIMCZUK, TRAFICONTE, AND WILSON
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Figure 2. (a). Mean (⫹ SE) number of lifetime sexual partners for Asian men (one
homosexual Indian man who had 40 different sexual partners was a population outlier and
excluded from data analyses) who were single and in relationships and for men who were
single and in relationships in the other ethnic groups (Caucasian, African, and Hispanic)
combined. (b) Mean (⫹ SE) number of lifetime one-night-stands for Asian men who were
single and in relationships and for men who were single and in relationships in the other ethnic
groups (Caucasian, African, and Hispanic) combined.

relationships, long-term relationships, or mar-
ried. Again, single men and men in short-term
relationships had, on average, more one-night
stands than men who were in long-term rela-
tionships or married but the overall difference
among the groups was not statistically signifi-
cant, F(3, 63) ⫽ 1.46; NS. When, however, data
from the long-term relationship and married
groups were pooled together, both scored sig-
nificantly lower than single men and men in
 TESTOSTERONE AND RELATIONSHIP STATUS
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Figure 3. Mean (⫹ SE) testosterone levels in single men, men in short-term relationships,
men in long-term relationships, and married men. Data combined for Caucasian, Hispanic,
and African men.
short-term relationships on both the lifetime
number of sexual partners (long-term ⫽ 5.51 ⫹
0.81; others ⫽ 9.81 ⫹ 1.81; t ⫽ 2.21; df ⫽ 62;
p ⬍ .05) and the lifetime number of one-night
stands (long-term ⫽ 1.51 ⫹ 0.49; others ⫽
3.22 ⫹ 0.82; t ⫽ 2.01; df ⫽ 62; p ⬍ .05).
Data for Asian men were insufficient for sta-
tistical comparisons of testosterone levels, num-
ber of lifetime sexual partners, and number of
one-night stands across different relationship
categories. Moreover, there were no married
Asian men in the subject population. Neverthe-
less, for the purposes of qualitative compari-
sons, means and standard errors for the three
variables for Asian men who were single, in
short-term relationships and in long-term rela-
tionships are presented in Table 1. Similar to
what was shown for the men in the other three
ethnic groups (but with some differences in the
absolute values), Asian men in short-term rela-
tionships scored higher than those in long-term
relationships in all three variables. Unlike the
other ethnic groups, however, Asian single men
scored relatively low in all three variables, and
especially in testosterone levels.
Discussion
The results of our study shed new light on the
association between relationship status, sexual
promiscuity, and testosterone levels in men.
103
Specifically, they showed that single men have
higher testosterone levels than men in relation-
ships only in so far as single men are more
sexually promiscuous than men in relationships.
If single men show low levels of sexual promis-
cuity, the difference in testosterone can be re-
versed, with single men having lower testoster-
one than men in relationships. Therefore,
testosterone levels are not affected by relation-
ship status in itself (e.g., through some psycho-
logical condition associated with being single or
having a partner) but by differences in sexual
promiscuity that are generally correlated with
differences in relationship status. Therefore, a
man’s testosterone specifically tracks his mat-
ing effort rather than his social life or psycho-
logical state.
In our study, we used ethnicity as a tool with
which to investigate potential variation in tes-
tosterone within and across relationship status
categories. First, using a larger, historical data-
base consisting of male MBA students, we con-
firmed the previously reported finding (see be-
ginning of article for references) that among
Western college students of predominantly Eu-
ropean American (i.e., Caucasian) ethnicity,
single men have, on average, higher testoster-
one levels than men in relationships. Then, we
showed that this testosterone difference was
driven by Caucasian, Hispanic, and African
men. Among men of Indian origin, single men
 104 MAESTRIPIERI, KLIMCZUK, TRAFICONTE, AND WILSON
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Figure 4. (a). Mean (⫹ SE) number of lifetime sexual partners among single men, men in
short-term relationships, men in long-term relationships, and married men. Data combined for
Caucasian, Hispanic, and African men. (b). Mean (⫹ SE) number of lifetime one-night-stands
among single men, men in short-term relationships, men in long-term relationships and
married men. Data combined for Caucasian, Hispanic, and African men.

and men in relationships had similar testoster-
one levels, although among men of East Asian
origin (e.g., Japan, China, and Taiwan) the dif-
ference was significant but reversed: single men
had lower testosterone than men in relation-
ships. The same pattern was replicated in an-
other ethnically diverse, but smaller sample of
mainly students at the same academic institu-
tion. Here again, Asian men (which included
mostly East Asians) who were single had sig-
nificantly lower testosterone than men in rela-
tionships. Asian single men had the lowest tes-
tosterone levels among single men of all ethnic
groups, and ethnic variation in testosterone lev-
 TESTOSTERONE AND RELATIONSHIP STATUS
Table 1
Testosterone and Sexual Experience in Asian Men in Relation to
Relationship Status
Single (n)
Testosterone 66.32 ⫹ 10.88 (5)
Number of sexual partners 1.33 ⫹ 0.33 (6)
Number of one-night stands 0.33 ⫹ 0.21 (6)
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els among men in relationships was not statis-
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
tically significant.
In our study, Asian American men, regardless
of their relationship status, reported a lower
number of lifetime sexual partners and a lower
number of lifetime one-night stands than Euro-
pean American, African American, and His-
panic American men. The Asian American men
in our study also reported that they had never
had extrapair sex in their lifetime and a slightly
lower frequency of extrapair sex fantasies when
compared with the other men. These results are
consistent with those of previous studies show-
ing that male Asian American college students
are more sexually conservative and less sexu-
ally experienced than men of other ethnic
groups (Meston et al., 1996; Okazaki, 2002). In
these previous studies, differences in sexuality
between Asian American and non-Asian Amer-
ican students were attributed to cultural norms.
For example, Meston et al. (1996) reported that
the more acculturated Asian-Canadians were to
Canadian culture the less conservative their sex-
ual attitudes. Although it should not be assumed
that there are no differences in sexual norms
among college students of European American,
African American, and Hispanic American eth-
nicity, previous studies that have specifically
compared these three ethnic groups with Asian
Americans have reported that differences in
sexual conservatism among European Ameri-
can, African American, and Hispanic American
youths are relatively minor when compared
with those between these three groups and
Asian Americans (e.g., East, 1998; Feldman,
Turner, & Araujo, 1999).
In our study none of our four measures of
sexual promiscuity was significantly correlated
with testosterone levels across men of all eth-
nicities but it is worth noting that Asian Amer-
ican single men had the lowest scores on the
number of lifetime sexual partners and the num-
ber of one-night stands (data on extrapair sex
105
Short-Term (n) Long-Term (n)
139.28 ⫹ 78.50 (2) 86.78 ⫹ 21.41 (3)
4.00 ⫹ 3.00 (2) 0.33 ⫹ 0.33 (3)
0.50 ⫹ 0.50 (2) 0 (3)
events and extrapair sex fantasies were analyzed
only for men in relationships) and the lowest
testosterone levels of all men in our subject
population, including Asian American men in
relationships. It is very likely that the testoster-
one levels of single Asian American men are
linked to their sexuality in a meaningful way
although our data do not demonstrate clear di-
rectional causality between testosterone and
sexual promiscuity. The small sample size for
analyzing relationships between ethnicity, sex-
ual promiscuity and testosterone is one of the
limitations of this study. It is possible that a
stronger association between these variables
would have emerged if a larger dataset had been
available (e.g., see Bogaert & Fisher, 1995).
Until some of our findings are replicated with a
larger dataset, they should be interpreted with
caution. The association between ethnicity, re-
lationship status, and testosterone, however, ap-
peared to be robust and was replicated in two
different datasets.
It is highly unlikely that our reported ethnic
differences in the relationship between male
testosterone levels and relationship status reflect
any ethnicity-related genetic differences in tes-
tosterone or in sexuality (e.g., Rohrmann et al.,
2007; but see Ellis & Nyborg, 1992). Our ten-
tative explanation of our findings, instead, has
to do with the heterogeneity of the “singles”
category. As already mentioned in the begin-
ning of this article, in subject populations that
mainly consist of college students, it is likely
that among single males there are both highly
sexually active individuals and individuals with
low levels of sexual activity. It is possible that
among male college students of Caucasian, His-
panic, and African ethnicity, highly sexually
active individuals represent the majority of sin-
gle individuals and less sexually active singles
are relatively rare. The high testosterone levels
of many sexually active singles may be respon-
sible for the higher testosterone levels of singles
 106 MAESTRIPIERI, KLIMCZUK, TRAFICONTE, AND WILSON
compared with men in relationships. Con-
versely, it is possible that less sexually active
individuals may have been the majority of
Asian single men in our study. If less sexually
active individuals have relatively low testoster-
one, this may explain why single Asian men had
low testosterone and particularly lower testos-
terone than Asian men in relationships. Why
there may be lower sexual activity among Asian
single men than among other single men re-
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
mains unclear: it may be the result of choice or
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
constraints, both of which may be due to cul-
tural or experiential factors.
Consistent with the above explanation, in the
Caucasian, Hispanic, and African ethnic groups,
single men scored higher, on average, than men
in relationships on measures of lifetime sexual
partners and lifetime number of one-night-
stands. In these ethnic groups, married men and
unmarried men in long-term relationships
scored lower on these sexuality measures than
single men and men in short-term relationships.
Variation in testosterone levels appeared to
track relationship length, as men in short-term
relationships had the second-highest levels of
testosterone after single men, followed by men
in long-term relationships, who in turn had
higher testosterone than married men. Simi-
larly, among Asian men in relationships, un-
married men in long-term relationships scored
lower than men in short-term relationships in
measures of testosterone, number of lifetime
sexual partners, and lifetime number of one-
night stands. Again, the small sample sizes for
the analyses of testosterone levels and relation-
ship status in different ethnic groups are among
the metholodogical limitations of this study.
Our findings, however, are consistent with those
of previous studies showing a negative effect of
relationship length and marriage on male testos-
terone levels (see beginning of the article for
references). The lack of married men among
Asian men in relationships may have contrib-
uted to the relatively high average testosterone
observed in this group of study participants and
to the magnitude of the difference in testoster-
one between single men and men in relationship
in the 2013 dataset.
Although the Asian and non-Asian ethnic
groups showed an opposite difference in testos-
terone between single men and men in relation-
ships, several lines of evidence suggest that
variation in male testosterone levels across all
ethnic groups tracks variation in sexual activity
and sexual experience. It is likely that both
psychological and physiological aspects of sex-
ual activity (e.g., both thinking about sex and
ejaculating) are directly involved in regulation
of testosterone production. Other psychological
aspects of relationship status that are not strictly
related to sexuality, such as romantic commit-
ment to a partner, stress, or social support, are
unlikely to account for the association between
relationship status and testosterone. Similarly,
the possible cultural and experiential factors
that affect ethnic variation in sexual conserva-
tism or sexual activity are likely to be linked to
variation in testosterone through their effects on
sexual activity, rather than directly or through
other variables. Other relatively stable charac-
teristics such as personality could also affect
variation in testosterone through their effects on
sexual activity.
As for the specific aspects of sexual behavior
that are most directly linked to testosterone, our
measures of lifetime sexual experience (number
of partners and number of one-night-stands) as
well as of extrapair sex were measures of sexual
promiscuity rather than of overall frequency of
sexual activity. Thus, our data indicated that
among Caucasian, Hispanic, and African men,
single men, and to a lesser extent also men in
short-term relationships, were more sexually
promiscuous but did not necessarily engage in
more frequent sexual activity than men in long-
term relationships or married men. Differences
in testosterone matched these differences in sex-
ual promiscuity.
Previous studies have shown that a man’s
testosterone increases following exposure to a
potential sexual partner and that this increase is
proportional to the intensity of his courtship
effort (Roney et al., 2003; 2007; van der Meij,
Buunk, van de Sande, & Salvador, 2008). In
contrast, engaging in sexual interactions with
the same partner in the context of a stable mo-
nogamous relationship does not seem to affect
testosterone. Differences in testosterone be-
tween individuals or changes in a man’s testos-
terone levels over time provide a reliable indi-
cator of variation in mating effort, which in men
mainly consists of an effort to mate with an
increasing number of partners. Measuring tes-
tosterone, therefore, is an indispensable tool for
understanding variation in male mating strate-
 TESTOSTERONE AND RELATIONSHIP STATUS
gies as well as the life history trade-offs be-
tween mating and survival or parenting efforts.
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Received October 30, 2013
Revision received December 18, 2013
Accepted January 9, 2014 䡲