Serum androgenic hormones motivate sexual behavior in adolescent boys.
In order to separate hormonal from social effects on adolescent male sexual behavior, serum hormone assays were performed and questionnaire data on sexual motivation and behavior were collected on a representative sample of 102 boys in grades 8, 9, and 10 of a public school system. Free testosterone was a strong predictor of sexual motivation and behavior, with no additional contribution of other hormones. Including measures of pubertal development and age (indexing the effects of social processes) indicated no additional effects. Free testosterone, therefore, appears to affect sexual motivation directly and does not work through the social interpretation of the accompanying pubertal development.
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000367:Age Factors; D000728:Androgens / Q000097:blood*; D003075:Coitus; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008418:Masturbation; D008954:Models, Biological; D009042:Motivation / Q000502:physiology; D011627:Puberty; D012738:Sex Hormone-Binding Globulin / Q000032:analysis; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013739:Testosterone / Q000097:blood
D000728:Androgens; D012738:Sex Hormone-Binding Globulin; D013739:Testosterone