Women with high levels of estrogen not only look and feel prettier
-- but they may act on those feelings by moving from man to man, U.S.
researchers reported on Tuesday. Estrogen, the so-called female hormone,
affects fertility and has been shown to make women dress more provocatively
and show more thrill-seeking behavior.
Dr. Kristina Durante of The University of Texas at Austin and colleagues
found that young women felt more attractive when they had high levels
of an estrogen known as estradiol, and they acted on those feelings.
"Women with higher estradiol reported a greater likelihood of
flirting, kissing and having a serious affair with someone other than
their primary partner and were marginally more likely to date another
man," Durante's team wrote in the Royal Society Journal Biology
Letters.
"Results provide support for the relationship between physical
beauty and fertility and suggest that women high in reproductive health
engage in opportunistic serial monogamy -- being open to affairs and
moving on to a new relationship if a higher-quality mate becomes available."
Durante's team tested 52 female undergraduates aged 17 to 30 who were
not taking hormone contraceptives. They took two estradiol samples
from each, as hormone levels fluctuate from week to week.
They had the women rate their own attractiveness and showed their
photographs to others to rate, as well.
"High-estradiol women were considered si gnificantly more physically
attractive by themselves and others," Durante and colleagues
wrote.
The high-estrogen women also reported more sexual behavior -- especially
outside of a relationship, although it was not linked to one-night
stands.
"Our results are consistent with the possibility that highly
fertile women are not easily satisfied by their long-term partners
and are especially motivated to become acquainted with other, presumably
more desirable, men," they concluded.
The findings fit in with many other studies showing that hormones
influence the behavior and success of both men and women. Earlier
this week, U.S. and British researchers showed that male financial
traders whose finger lengths indicate high testosterone levels in
the womb made more money.
