Massive Study Challenges Long-Held Belief About Testosterone And Risk-Taking

A sweeping analysis of 52 studies has found no meaningful link between testosterone levels and people’s willingness to take risks, challenging a popular biological explanation for risky behavior. The research, published in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, analyzed data from 17,340 participants.

Scientists have long suspected that higher testosterone levels might encourage financial, physical or social risk-taking, particularly in men. However, the new meta-analysis suggests this assumption does not hold up when the full body of available evidence is examined together.

What The Meta-Analysis Examined

The research team, led by Irene Sánchez Rodríguez, reviewed major scientific databases for human studies that investigated testosterone levels alongside some form of risk preference. Both observational studies measuring natural hormone levels and experiments involving testosterone administration were included.

To qualify, studies had to report a statistical relationship between testosterone and risk-taking behavior using either behavioral tasks or self-report questionnaires. Only studies published in English, Spanish or Italian with sufficient data to calculate effect sizes were included in the final analysis.

In total, researchers identified 52 eligible studies. These studies used a variety of methods to measure risk-taking, including gambling tasks, lottery-based economic games, balloon inflation tasks and questionnaires assessing attitudes toward uncertainty and potential losses.

Key Findings On Testosterone And Risk

When researchers combined the results from all studies, the overall relationship between testosterone and risk-taking was essentially nonexistent. People with higher testosterone levels were not consistently more likely to take risks than those with lower levels.

Individual studies had previously produced conflicting results. Some reported that higher testosterone predicted increased risk-taking, while others found the opposite pattern. This inconsistency prompted the researchers to closely examine differences in study design and measurement methods.

Interestingly, only a narrow subgroup of studies using specific lottery-based economic tasks showed a small positive association between testosterone and risk-taking. Most other behavioral tasks and self-reported risk measures revealed no reliable connection.

Measurement Methods Influenced Results

The way testosterone was measured also affected findings. Some studies relied on direct hormone measurements through saliva or blood samples, while others administered testosterone experimentally to test possible causal effects.

A separate group of studies used indirect biological markers, such as the ratio between the index and ring fingers, often considered a potential indicator of prenatal testosterone exposure. These indirect measures occasionally suggested associations that were not replicated in studies using direct hormone testing.

When the researchers focused specifically on higher-quality evidence, including direct hormone measurements and controlled hormone administration studies, the overall relationship between testosterone and risk-taking again disappeared.

Gender Differences And Broader Context

The findings were similar for both men and women. Testosterone levels did not reliably predict risk-taking tendencies across either sex.

These results challenge the widespread belief that testosterone is a major biological explanation for gender differences in risk-taking behavior. Although men generally display higher average risk tolerance in some areas of life, the study suggests that hormones alone cannot adequately explain this pattern.

The authors argue that risk-taking should instead be understood through a broader biopsychosocial framework, where personality, emotions, learning, cultural expectations and social context interact with biology rather than being determined by a single hormone.

Implications And Remaining Questions

The findings weaken the idea that testosterone directly drives behaviors such as aggressive financial investing, dangerous sports participation or highly competitive career decisions. Social influences, upbringing, personality traits and situational pressures may play a much larger role.

Researchers also examined the so-called dual-hormone hypothesis, which proposes that testosterone’s behavioral effects may depend on cortisol levels, the body’s primary stress hormone. However, too few high-quality studies were available to draw reliable conclusions about this interaction.

The authors recommend that future research use standardized behavioral tasks, larger participant groups and repeated hormone measurements to better understand whether hormones subtly influence certain types of risk under specific conditions.

For now, the evidence suggests that testosterone is not a broad or universal driver of human risk-taking behavior.