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GBlist: High Testosterone in Violent Women



Militant Feminists, eh?


Tuesday September 23 2:09 PM EDT 

High Testosterone in Violent Women

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Women who commit violent crimes and show
"aggressive dominance" in prison are more likely to
have high levels of testosterone than other female inmates, a study
shows. 

The report in the September-October issue of the journal Psychosomatic
Medicine notes that older female prison inmates
whose testosterone levels decreased with age also showed decreased
aggressive behavior -- but not those whose hormone
levels remained high. 

"The study shows that testosterone in females has much the same effect
as it has in males. In the context of prison, women are
more dominant and tended to have committed violent crimes," says Dr.
James Dabbs, professor of psychology at Georgia
State University in Atlanta. 

Dabbs points out that levels of testosterone in women "are much lower
than in men, maybe a tenth of the levels in men. But
among (women) themselves, they are equally varied in that in some women,
the levels may be twice as high as in others, as in
some men they are twice as high as others." 

The study included 87 female inmates, ages 17 to 60, at a maximum
security prison. The women's testosterone levels were
measured via a test of saliva, which Dabbs says correlates with blood
levels of the hormone. 

The Georgia researchers examined the women's court records and made
assessments of their prison behavior based on prison
records and interviews with staff. 

According to Dabbs, the new findings are similar to those in recent
studies of male prison inmates in which testosterone levels
were highest among men convicted of violent crimes such as rape,
homicide, assault. As inmates they also violated more prison
rules. 

According to Dabbs, additional but "tentative" findings in his study
pertain to five women whose testosterone levels were
lowest. Three staff members (without knowledge of the inmates' hormone
levels) "used the phrases 'very manipulative,' 'denies
her part in problems,' 'sneaky,' a 'snake in the grass,"' to describe
the five, Dabbs notes. And when asked for a single adjective
that best described these inmates, all agreed "treacherous" was the
word. 

According to Dabbs, this subjective assessment of the five "makes
sense." 

"If you're going to be straightforward in your behavior, you need a lot
of gumption behind it." Thus, lacking the "gumption"
conferred by higher hormone levels, these women find ways to be "equally
bad -- bad-tempered or bad-natured -- but are
afraid to show it directly," he explains. 

Still, Dabbs acknowledges the possibility of a chicken versus egg
question; that is, which comes first -- the hormone level or
the violent behavior? 

"It's both. Testosterone comes at a certain level, and some people are
higher than others and always have been and will be,
and that's going to make them a little bit different," he says. "On the
other hand, behavior is going to change it (testosterone
level). In studies of athletes, winning a contest increases testosterone
and in studies of animals, winning a fight increases
testosterone," he points out. 

"In my view, the most important part is how the testosterone affects the
behavior, because some people are just chronically
higher in testosterone," Dabbs adds. 

But the researcher says the new study "does not imply testosterone is
the only variable or the most important one. Social
factors, physical condition, and other hormones undoubtedly contribute
to criminal behavior and behavior in prison."
SOURCE: Psychosomatic Medicine (1997;59)
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