TESTOSTERONE AND OCCUPATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT

Men with higher levels of serum testosterone have lower-status occupations, as indicated by archival data from 4,462 military veterans in six U.S. census occupational groups. This finding supports a structural equation model in which higher testosterone, mediated through lower intellectual ability, higher antisocial behavior, and lower education, leads away from white-collar occupations. The model is plausible because testosterone levels are heritable and available early enough to affect a number of paths leading to occupational achievement. Prior research has related testosterone to aggression in animals and men, and high levels of testosterone presumably evolved in association with dominance in individual and small-group settings. It appears an irony of androgens that testosterone, which evolved in support of a primitive kind of status, now conflicts with the achievement of occupational status.