Women with high levels of the sex hormone Oestradiol (a form of Oestrogen linked to female fertility and reproductive health) tend to consider themselves more attractive and are often found to be more attractive than women with lower amounts of the sex hormone.

According to Doctoral candidate Kristina Durante and Assistant Professor of Psychology Norm Li, young women who produce naturally high levels of Oestradiol are more likely to have affairs, and to change partners more frequently. They also see themselves as more attractive than other women.

The researchers, from the University of Texas at Austin, suggested that those women engage in “opportunistic serial monogamy” i.e. they are open to flings and moving on to new relationships, if a higher-quality mate becomes available.

Kristina Durante explained:

Physically attractive women receive more male attention and, when in relationships, are more likely to be the targets of mate poaching. Attractive women also have especially high mating standards.

Because it’s difficult to obtain a partner who is a good provider and also has good genes, women often have to trade off between having a long-term mate who provides continual material resources and more physically attractive, short-term sexual partners with good genetic resources.

However, highly attractive women demand greater amounts of both types of resources in a male partner, in addition to good parenting and partner skills. Thus, physically attractive women may not only have more alternatives but also high standards that are difficult to satisfy.

Accordingly, they may have fewer reasons to be committed to any particular partner if higher quality potential mates are available.

Previous research has indicated that Oestradiol, which is similar to Testosterone in men, fuels a lust for power in single women – Although Oestradiol levels rise and fall across a woman’s ovulatory cycle – generally corresponding to fertility and interest in sex.

In their study, Durante and Li investigated the relationship between Oestradiol and sexual motivation, by taking saliva samples from fifty-two normally cycling female undergraduates aged 17 to 30, at two points of their menstrual cycle, in order to establish baseline levels of the hormone, and rule out the effect of monthly fluctuations. They then asked the participants to answer a survey about their sexual history and their propensity to cheat on a partner by flirting, kissing, dating, having sex, or maintaining a serious affair.

Participants were also asked to rate their own physical attractiveness, and an independent panel of two male and seven female observers, unaware of the nature of the research, were used as independent confirmation, to score the subjects physical attractiveness from full-body photos.

The researchers found that a woman’s Oestradiol level was positively associated with self-perceived physical attractiveness, but negatively associated with their satisfaction with their primary partner. Women with a higher Oestradiol level also reported a greater likelihood of flirting, kissing and having a serious affair with someone other than their primary partner. But, they were only marginally more likely to date another man.

However, whilst high-Oestradiol women had significantly more long-term relationships, the hormone was not related to the likelihood of having more one-night stands. Durante stated:

Our findings show that highly fertile women are not easily satisfied by their long-term partners and are motivated to seek out more desirable partners. However, that doesn’t mean they’re more likely to engage in casual sex. Instead, they adopt a strategy of serial monogamy.

Kristina Durante theorized that the behaviour could be an adaptation to the high costs of giving birth, evolved from when women were more dependent on men to support them through childbirth and child-rearing, claiming:

For women it’s all about the resources that we need. If you’re going to be getting knocked up there’s a significant cost

The study “Oestradiol Level and Opportunistic Mating in Women” was published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of London journal Biology Letters.

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Posted by Jonathan in Biochemistry, Sociobiology

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