Swank writes:
No, I’m not. Countless studies find no link between increased testosterone and those negative outcomes, and many find relationships with positive outcomes.If testosterone was so important, the BJS chart wouldn’t look the way it does, period.
That’s not true.
Is the commenter suggesting that female humans are just as aggressive and violent as male humans? Isn’t it quite obvious to the commenter that males are far more aggressive and violent than females all over the globe at all times? If there is one common sense thing I have learned in life, it is that males are much more aggressive and violent than females at all life stages. It is simply common sense.
Scientific consensus now links testosterone reliably to the following behaviors:
- Testosterone is reliably linked to aggression in all animals, even chimpanzees.
- Testosterone levels rise in human males confronted with an a situation that would require an aggressive response in the lab.
- Testosterone peaks in males between the ages of 7-33. This is exactly when males are most aggressive, violent and criminal. Middle aged men have much lower testosterone levels than young men and are much less aggressive, violent and criminal.
- Testosterone has been reliably linked to criminality. Most studies that looked at testosterone and criminality found a relationship, but it was mostly in males. The effect size is small because females are included.
- Testosterone has also been reliably linked to antisocial behavior and heavy drinking. Most studies have shown a link between higher testosterone and greater drinking and increased antisocial behavior.
- Steroid abuse, which raises testosterone levels to 2-3X normal, has been reliably and repeatedly linked to high levels of aggression. Roid rage is a real thing. Steroid abuse has also been linked to hypomania, depression, mood swings, and anxiety disorders. Steroid abusers are more likely than controls to meet criteria for antisocial personality disorder when they are abusing steroids. It’s quite clear that the high levels of testosterone seen in steroid abuse are reliably linked to aggression. However, what is more up in the air is whether much lower levels of testosterone, while still elevated, have a link to aggression.
- 95% of the prison inmates for violent crimes are males. Males commit the overwhelming majority of homicides, rapes, etc. in the US.
Scientific consensus shows that lowering testosterone lowers aggression:
- Testosterone lowering drugs given to sex offenders cause serious reductions in aggression.
- An experiment in which boys were given a testosterone lowering drug and then testosterone shots to keep their levels in the low-normal range found marked reductions in aggression.
- Castrated animals become markedly less aggressive. Even testosterone shots later in life do not increase aggression.
- Castrated humans have very low levels of aggression.
Scientific consensus shows mixed results on testosterone and aggression.
- Aggression: As far as a relationship between elevated testosterone and aggression per se, studies have been much more mixed. Results have been equivocal. The relationship between testosterone and aggression is no doubt complicated in humans and may rely on other factors beyond the two being studied. Studies looking directly at testosterone and aggression have been mixed – half find a link, and half don’t. Studies showing links to testosterone and aggression continue to appear all the time though, although they are mostly in boys and men and not in girls and women.
