No evidence that women using oral contraceptives have weaker preferences for masculine characteristics in men’s faces

Marcinkowska, U. M., Hahn, A. C. , Little, A. C., DeBruine, L. M. and Jones, B. C. (2019) No evidence that women using oral contraceptives have weaker preferences for masculine characteristics in men’s faces. PLoS ONE, 14(1), e0210162. (doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0210162) (PMID:30629658) (PMCID:PMC6328097)

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Abstract

Previous research has suggested that women using oral contraceptives show weaker preferences for masculine men than do women not using oral contraceptives. Such research would be consistent with the hypothesis that steroid hormones influence women’s preferences for masculine men. Recent large-scale longitudinal studies, however, have found limited evidence linking steroid hormones to masculinity preferences. Given the relatively small samples used in previous studies investigating putative associations between masculinity preferences and oral contraceptive use, we compared the facial masculinity preferences of women using oral contraceptives and women not using oral contraceptives in a large online sample of 6482 heterosexual women. We found no evidence that women using oral contraceptives had weaker preferences for male facial masculinity than did women not using oral contraceptives. These findings add to a growing literature suggesting that links between reproductive hormones and preferences are more limited than previously proposed.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Hahn, Dr Amanda and DeBruine, Professor Lisa and Jones, Professor Benedict
Creator Roles:
Hahn, A. C.Conceptualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing
DeBruine, L. M.Conceptualization, Data curation, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing
Debruine, L. M.Formal analysis
Jones, B. C.Conceptualization, Data curation, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing
Authors: Marcinkowska, U. M., Hahn, A. C., Little, A. C., DeBruine, L. M., and Jones, B. C.
College/School:College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Psychology & Neuroscience
Journal Name:PLoS ONE
Publisher:Public Library of Science
ISSN:1932-6203
ISSN (Online):1932-6203
Copyright Holders:Copyright © 2019 Marcinkowska et al.
First Published:First published in PLoS ONE 14(1): e0210162
Publisher Policy:Reproduced under a Creative Commons License
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Project CodeAward NoProject NamePrincipal InvestigatorFunder's NameFunder RefLead Dept
604381OCMATE Do oral contraceptives alter womens mate preferences?Benedict JonesEuropean Research Council (ERC)OCMATE FP7ERC282655RI NEUROSCIENCE & PSYCHOLOGY
672531KINSHIP: How do humans recognise kin?Lisa DebruineEuropean Research Council (ERC)647910RI NEUROSCIENCE & PSYCHOLOGY