Testosterone, physical aggression, dominance, and physical development in early adolescence

The associations among testosterone, physical development, social dominance , and antisocial behaviour during early adolescence were assessed in a samp le of boys followed from 6 to 13 years. Saliva testosterone level was posit ively correlated with height, and uncorrelated with measures of fatness, in cluding the body mass index. Physical aggression and social dominance were not significantly correlated. Regression analyses revealed that testosteron e level and body mass additively predicted social dominance, whereas only b ody mass predicted physical aggression. Thus, early adolescents with high l evels of testosterone were more likely to be socially dominant, especially if they had a large body mass. Those who had a large body mass were more li kely to be physically aggressive, independently of their testosterone level . The observed pattern of correlations between testosterone, body mass, dom inance, and physical aggression offers an interesting example of the comple x hormone-physique-behaviour relations at puberty. They support the hypothe sis that testosterone level and social dominance are related, and that the association between testosterone level and physical aggression is probably observed in contexts where physical aggression leads to social dominance.