title: Temperament and ovarian reproductive hormones in women: evidence from a study during the entire menstrual cycle.
abstract: Personality and temperament were hypothesized to function as important factors affecting life history strategies. Recent research has demonstrated the association between temperamental traits and reproduction in humans, however, the underlying mechanisms are still poorly understood. This study presents evidence for an association between temperamental traits and woman's fecundity, as indicated by levels of ovarian steroid hormones during the menstrual cycle. On a large sample of urban, reproductive age women (n = 108) we demonstrated that activity, endurance and emotional reactivity are associated with levels of estrogen and with a pattern of change of progesterone levels. Women high in activity, high in endurance and low in emotional reactivity had up to twice as high estradiol levels and more favorable progesterone profiles as women low in activity, low in endurance and high in emotional reactivity. The temperamental traits we measured highly overlap with extraversion, neuroticism and negative emotionality that were reported to correlate with reproductive success. Our findings thus suggest a possible explanation for these relationships, linking personality and women's reproductive success through a hormonal pathway.
authors.affiliation: Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Anthropology, Kuznicza 35, 50-951 Wroclaw, Poland. annaz@antro.pan.wroc.pl
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ziomkiewicz
authors.forename: Szymon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wichary
authors.forename: Dorota
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bochenek
authors.forename: Boguslaw
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pawlowski
authors.forename: Grazyna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jasienska
mesh_terms: D050154:Adiposity / Q000502:physiology; D000328:Adult; D000886:Anthropometry; D001827:Body Height / Q000502:physiology; D001835:Body Weight / Q000502:physiology; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology; D004970:Estrone / Q000652:urine; D005120:Extraversion, Psychological; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility; D012739:Gonadal Steroid Hormones / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008597:Menstrual Cycle / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009497:Neurotic Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D010551:Personality; D010807:Physical Endurance / Q000502:physiology; D011276:Pregnanediol / Q000652:urine; D012098:Reproduction / Q000502:physiology; D013694:Temperament / Q000502:physiology*; D055105:Waist Circumference
chemical_list: D012739:Gonadal Steroid Hormones; D004970:Estrone; D011276:Pregnanediol