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the importance of hormones in female athletic competition testosterone increases prior to competing
In female athletes, testosterone rises in anticipation of competition more in women than it does in men, researchers say.
The pre-event rise in males averages Nine percent whereas in females it increases by Twenty-four percent. During the competition itself women increase their testosterone production by Forty-nine percent while in males it increases on average Fifteen percent. The rise in testosterone that accompanies athletic competition is believed to make the athlete more willing to take risks, improves psychomotor function, and coordination, and improves cognitive performance qualities that are very important in winning. "We are not sure why women's testosterone elevation to competition is so much greater than it is in men. It is probably due to the fact that every day levels of testosterone are four times higher in men than they are in women. To effectively meet the challenge a higher production rate may be necessary," explains Dr. Alan Booth, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, Human Development and Family Studies, and Demography at Pennsylvania State University. "It wasn't because female rugby players have higher everyday testosterone levels than other women. We checked." However, there are some important sex differences in hormone production at the end of the competition. In female athletes testosterone is unrelated to winning and losing whereas when male athletes win, their testosterone goes up and when they lose it goes down. |
In relation to cortisol, another hormone that mobilizes the body's resources for competition, female athletes experience lower cortisol levels when they win than they do when they lose.
"This supports the idea that the euphoria associated with winning and the depression linked to losing entails different biological mechanisms in women and men," Booth adds.
"Among women, pre-game testosterone increases were significantly correlated with reports of being focused just prior to the game, just as it is associated with arousal in men," Booth says. "Unlike pre-game increases in men, the pre-game increase among women was unrelated to the perceptions of how easy or difficult the opponent was thought to be prior to the game. Men seem to adjust their pre-game rise to the perceived strength of the opponent."
The researchers also examined personal traits among the players that could affect pre-game increases in testosterone. "Aggressiveness had little direct relationship on the increase, but bonding did," says Bateup. "Those who are motivated to play rugby because they enjoy having teammates and bonding experienced a much greater rise in pre-competition testosterone than those who were not motivated by bonding."
Unlike male athletes, the more skilled female players did not have lower cortisol just before the game than their less skilled teammates. "Low cortisol is thought to indicate good stress management skills which may be one of the reasons highly seeded male players with low cortisol do well in competition," Booth adds. "It is also possible that women may be more collective than individualistic in their management of stress. On the other hand, one of the roles of cortisol is to mobilize energy resources. Rugby is a physically demanding game and high cortisol among females would be beneficial to maximize available resources for the upcoming demands."
Saliva samples were collected Twenty-Four hours before competition to establish a
baseline, Fifteen minutes prior and immediately after 5 league games.
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