Plasma Testosterone: Correlation with Aggressive Behavior and Social Dominance in Man

Abstract

Plasma testosterone was determined in 36 male prisoners; 12 with chronic aggressive behavior, 12 socially dominant without physical aggressiveness and 12 who were not physically aggressive or socially dominant. A battery of psychological tests--the Scale of Susceptibility to Annoyances, the California Personality Inventory, the Adjective Check List, the Garabedian Index of Prison Socialization, the Lykken Measure of Anxiety, and the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory--were administered over the same time period. There was a significantly higher level of plasma testosterone in the aggressive group as compared with the nonaggressive group or with the other two groups combined. The socially dominant group also had a significantly higher level of testosterone than the nonaggressive group.