Hormonal Correlates of Status in Women's College Sororities Open Access
Mahony, Bridget (Spring 2020)
Abstract
In order to explore the hormonal correlates of status within female social groups, thirty-nine women belonging to the senior pledge class of one of two sororities at Emory University used an ecologically valid status hierarchy generation task to rank fellow senior class members on the characteristics of leadership, likeability, and respect. There was no relationship between any of the three hormones assayed (testosterone, estradiol, and cortisol) and peer- or self-rated status. Similarly, there was no effect of the interaction between testosterone and cortisol on status. These results stand in contrast to other studies that found support for the dual hormone hypothesis, in which status attainment is positively correlated with testosterone only among individuals low in cortisol. This discrepancy is potentially due to the task-neutral nature of the sorority and suggests that perhaps the influence of hormones on status attainment is specifically relevant to groups with a task orientation. Additionally, participants completed two questionnaires: the Group Environment Questionnaire (GEQ), to assess feelings of social connectedness with fellow sorority members, and the Adult Nowicki-Strickland Internal-External (ANSIE) control scale, to measure internal vs. external Locus of Control (LOC). In this population, ANSIE score was found to moderate the relationship between peer-rated status and social connectedness as measured by the GEQ-Self subscale, as well as the relationship between testosterone and the difference between self-perceived and peer-rated status, two findings that should encourage the inclusion of LOC assessments in psychobiological research.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………… page 1
Methods…………………………………………………………………………………… page 11
Results…………………………………………………………………………………… page 16
Discussion………………………………………………………………………………… page 25
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………... page 37
References………………………………………………………………………………… page 38
Appendix A……………………………………………………………………………… page 43
Appendix B……………………………………………………………………………… page 44
Appendix C……………………………………………………………………………… page 45
Appendix D……………………………………………………………………………… page 47
Appendix E………………………………………………………………………………. page 49
Appendix F………………………………………………………………………………. page 51
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