Testosterone and Occupational Achievement*

Men with higher levels of serum testosterone have lower-status occupations, as indicated by archival data Erom 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 Erom 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. Occupations are cultural creations, and cultural forces lead us toward or away from them. The choice of an occupation depends upon skill, experience, and the work available in a particular society. Biological factors are not usually considered, beyond those so potent as to be of little psychological interest: sumo wrestlers are large, airline pilots have good vision, and most professors are mentally competent. But on a subtle level, biological factors act through small and continuing effects on thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Arvey et al. (1989) found job satisfaction to be heritable, though they did not indicate the biological factors that are important or the pathways through which these factors operate. The hormon testosterone may be one such factor. Testosterone has been associated with dominance (Mazur 1985), aggression (Bernstein, Rose & Gordo