Testosterone Makes Women More Risky, Too

Testosterone brings out the macho in guys. And it turns out the same goes for women. The more testosterone a woman has the more likely she is to act like a guy on the trading floor, according to new research.

The findings, published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reveal women with higher levels of testosterone are more likely to take financial risks than their counterparts with lower testosterone levels.

While both men and women use the hormone testosterone in their bodies, men have more of it. And in general, men are more likely to take risks than women, according to the study researchers.

Most previous research has focused on the links between men and testosterone, finding stock market traders make more money when their testosterone levels are highest; and guys with the highest levels of the hormone and manly faces are more likely to take the biggest financial risks.

The new results come from a study of about 500 MBA students, male and female, who answered several questions in which they had to choose between a guaranteed monetary reward and a risky lottery with a higher potential payout. Saliva samples were taken to measure testosterone levels.

Overall, men had higher testosterone levels and were more likely than women to choose the lottery over the safe bet. But women with higher levels of testosterone were nearly seven times more likely to take risks than women with lower hormone levels, according to this Associated Press article on the study.