SALIVARY TESTOSTERONE AND SELF-REPORT AGGRESSIVE AND PRO-SOCIAL PERSONALITY-CHARACTERISTICS IN MEN AND WOMEN

Measures of salivary testosterone and the personality dimensions of ag gression and pro-social behavior were obtained in 306 (155 male and 15 1 female) university students, Each participant provided two samples o f saliva and completed ten self report personality scales from multipl e inventories. A factor analysis of the personality scales produced tw o factors, an aggression factor and a pro-social behavior factor. Men averaged five times the amount of salivary testosterone as women (99 p g/ml vs. 18.5 pg/ml) and rated themselves as more aggressive and less nurturant. Within each sex, testosterone was positively correlated wit h aggression and negatively correlated with pro-social personality, St ructural equation modelling analyses suggested that a direct effect mo del best described the relationship between salivary testosterone and the latent personality dimensions of aggression and pro-social behavio r. (C) 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.