Women on hormonal birth control view their romantic traits more positively

Women who use hormonal contraceptives tend to evaluate their own romantic and social qualities more favorably than women who do not use them. A recent set of psychological evaluations suggests that synthetic hormones in birth control might inadvertently boost how women perceive their desirability to potential partners. These findings were recently published in the journal Human Nature.

To understand how people navigate romantic relationships, psychologists often study a concept called mate value. A person’s mate value is a summative evaluation of the characteristics that make them an attractive partner. For women, these qualities historically include physical markers of fertility, as well as social skills, loyalty, and potential parenting ability. People tend to seek out romantic partners whose mate value roughly matches their own. Because of this matching process, having an intuitive sense of one’s own mate value helps individuals successfully navigate the dating market.

Hormonal contraceptives suppress natural fertility by disrupting the normal production of ovarian hormones. Because fertility is a primary component of mate value, some evolutionary psychologists hypothesized that women taking birth control might subconsciously perceive their own mate value as lower than they otherwise would.

However, there is a competing hypothesis based on how synthetic hormones interact with the brain. Hormonal contraceptives contain synthetic versions of progesterone and estradiol. When these synthetic hormones bind to receptors in the brain, they mimic physiological states that naturally promote social bonding and maternal behavior. Animal research has shown that administering these hormones can prime nurturing behaviors. Because sociality and parenting capacity are also major components of mate value, it is entirely possible that hormonal contraceptives could boost a woman’s self-perception in these areas.

Juliana E. French, a psychology researcher at the University of South Florida, worked with a team of researchers to test these competing ideas. They designed a series of evaluations to see whether women on birth control viewed their romantic traits more positively or more negatively than naturally cycling women.

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In the first evaluation, the research team recruited 94 unmarried, undergraduate women. The participants reported whether they used a hormonal contraceptive, such as a daily pill, a patch, or an implant. The researchers also gathered data on the naturally cycling women’s menstrual cycles to estimate their natural conception risk on the day of the study.

The participants then completed a widely used psychological survey that measures self-perceived mating success. Instead of directly asking the women to rate their own attractiveness, this survey asks them to evaluate their success in attracting partners. For example, participants rated how much they agreed with statements about whether people they like tend to reciprocate those feelings.

The researchers found that women using hormonal contraceptives reported higher self-perceived mating success than the women experiencing natural menstrual cycles. This positive association remained consistent even when the researchers adjusted their statistical models to account for the natural fertility fluctuations of the non-users.

The team then designed a second evaluation to see if this pattern held true for older, partnered women. They recruited 91 newly married women for a two-year longitudinal study. The researchers assessed the women at the beginning of their marriages and then checked in annually for the next two years. During each assessment, the participants reported their contraceptive use and completed the same mating success survey.

Because the participants were newly married, the researchers removed survey questions that implied seeking outside sexual partners. They also asked the couples to report how often they had engaged in sexual intercourse over the previous month.

The results of the second evaluation mirrored the first. The married women using hormonal birth control consistently viewed their mating success more highly than the naturally cycling married women. By accounting for the frequency of sexual activity in their statistical models, the researchers demonstrated that the higher self-perceptions were not simply the result of having a more active sex life.

Despite these consistent results, the mating success survey primarily measures romantic opportunities rather than underlying personal traits. To address this limitation, the team conducted a third evaluation using a broader measurement tool. They recruited 178 unmarried university students who were participating in an upcoming speed-dating event.

Before the event, the women completed a survey evaluating themselves on 29 different traits related to romantic desirability. These included short-term desirability traits, such as physical attractiveness and a fun personality, as well as long-term traits, such as loyalty, educational ambition, and social reputation.

Once again, the women using hormonal contraceptives rated themselves more positively across this broader spectrum of traits. The researchers noted that the majority of the contraceptive users in this specific group reported taking birth control for reasons other than preventing pregnancy. Many used the medications to manage acne or regulate their menstrual cycles. This detail helps rule out the idea that highly desirable women simply take birth control in greater numbers to manage an abundance of dating opportunities.

To confirm the stability of their findings, the researchers combined the data from all three evaluations with the results of a previous, independent paper whose results were not statistically significant. The aggregated data revealed an overall positive link between hormonal contraceptive use and self-perceived mate value.

While the findings represent a consistent pattern, the research relies entirely on observational data. The study tracks existing habits rather than assigning medical treatments to participants. Because of this design, the results do not prove that hormonal contraceptives cause women to view themselves more favorably. It remains possible that an unidentified psychological factor leads women with higher self-perceptions to seek out hormonal birth control in the first place.

To determine if the synthetic hormones are directly responsible for the psychological shifts, future research will need to employ experimental designs. Scientists could randomly assign participants to take either a hormonal contraceptive or a placebo and measure any changes in their self-perception over time.

Additionally, the current paper did not separate the participants based on the specific type of birth control they used. Different formulations of oral pills, implants, or rings deliver varying doses of synthetic hormones. Some methods use a combination of progestin and estradiol, while others rely on progestin alone. Investigating how these specific formulations interact with a woman’s psychology will require more detailed medical tracking in future studies.

The study, “Hormonal Contraceptives and Women’s Mate-Value-Related Traits and Outcomes,” was authored by Juliana E. French, Elizabeth Barron, Emma E. Altgelt, Maryanne Fisher, and Andrea L. Meltzer.