Abstract
People’s perceptions of their mate value—a compilation of characteristics that are desirable to potential partners—functionally guide their mating behaviors. Hormonal contraceptives alter the hormonal profiles linked to some characteristics underlying women’s mate value (e.g., fertility, sociality, potential parenting ability). Thus, relative to naturally cycling women, women using hormonal contraceptives may perceive such characteristics more negatively (due to suppressed fertility) or positively (due to possible bolstered sociality and/or potential parenting ability). The purpose of this research was to test these competing possibilities. Study 1a and 1b utilized samples of single, undergraduate women and newly married women, respectively, to test the association between hormonal contraceptive use and a commonly used proxy for self-perceived mate value—self-perceived mating success. Study1b additionally tested whether the association emerged independently of sexual frequency. Study 2 tested the robustness of the observed association, using a larger sample of single women and a measure assessing perceived characteristics underlying mate value rather than perceived mating success. We then conducted a mini-meta-analysis to estimate the average effect size for all relevant effect sizes available to date. Across studies, women using hormonal contraceptives rated mate-value-relevant traits and outcomes more positively than naturally cycling women. This association is not due to sexual motives or sexual behaviors. The current research adds to a growing literature revealing differences in mating and relationship psychology between women who do versus do not use hormonal contraceptives.
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Hormonal Contraceptive Use and Women’s Mate-Value-Related Traits and Outcomes
More than 400 million women worldwide use hormonal contraceptives (United Nations, 2019) to prevent pregnancy and mitigate common ailments (e.g., acne, irregular menstrual cycles; Burkman et al., 2004). In addition to suppressing fertility (Rivera et al., 1999), a growing literature suggests hormonal contraceptives inadvertently alter psychological processes, including some that are important to romantic relationships (e.g., Alvergne & Lummaa, 2010; French et al., 2017; French & Meltzer, 2020; Roberts et al., 2014). Given the critical impact that satisfying romantic relationships have on people’s mental and physical well-being (e.g., Robles et al., 2014), advancing our understanding of the ways hormonal contraception may impact processes underlying romantic relationship functioning is of high theoretical and practical interest. The purpose of the present studies was to investigate the possibility that hormonal contraceptive use may be associated with an important cognitive mechanism that facilitates how women navigate relationship pursuit and maintenance—their perceptions of traits and outcomes that reflect mate value (e.g., Apostolou et al., 2018).
Women’s Mate Value and the Theorized Impact of Hormonal Contraceptives
Mate value is a summative evaluation of characteristics associated with a person’s potential reproductive success (Kirsner et al., 2003; Waynforth, 2001). Myriad qualities that are attractive to a potential partner contribute to women’s overall mate value, including but not limited to their fertility (and associated physical attractiveness), sociality, and parenting ability (Fisher et al., 2008). Although people can potentially maximize their own reproductive fitness by pursuing mates with extremely high mate value, people high in mate value often reject relatively lower mate-value suitors (e.g., Kelly et al., 2016). For this reason, people most successfully navigate the mating market by seeking partners whose mate values are similar to their own (Berscheid et al., 1971), which, of course, requires some awareness of their own mate value. Thus, a key factor driving reproductive success is people’s perceptions of their own mate value (e.g., Regan, 1998).
Importantly, self-perceived mate value can be context-dependent (Fisher et al., 2008). To the extent that one’s perceptions of their mate value reflect underlying traits that make them attractive to potential mates, external factors that modulate those qualities should also be linked to women’s self-perceived mate value. One such external factor may be whether they use hormonal contraceptives. Yet, diverging predictions could be made regarding the nature of the association between women’s hormonal contraceptive use and perceptions of their mate-value-relevant traits and outcomes. Because fertility influences women’s mate value (Fisher et al., 2008), anything that suppresses fertility—such as using hormonal contraceptives—inherently reduces their mate value. Drawing from the idea that psychological mechanisms that facilitate fitness payoffs often operate outside of conscious awareness (e.g., Cosmides & Tooby, 2013), women’s perceptions of their mate-value-relevant traits and outcomes may be sensitive to such fertility-based influences, even if they are not consciously thinking about the proximate link in everyday contexts. That is, women may unknowingly incorporate their suppressed fertility (and consequent reduction of reproductive potential) into their perceptions of traits and outcomes underlying their overall mate value. This line of reasoning suggests that women who use hormonal contraceptives may perceive more negative mate-value-relevant traits and outcomes relative to naturally cycling women.
However, women’s broader mate value encompasses more than just fertility. Indeed, other qualities such as sociality and potential parenting ability contribute to women’s mate value (Fisher et al., 2008). Considering the ways in which hormonal contraception are known to impact these other qualities raises the alternative possibility that hormonal contraceptive use could instead be associated with more positive perceptions of mate-value relevant traits and outcomes. Hormonal contraceptives disrupt the natural production of ovarian hormones (Reed & Carr, 2000) via administration of progestin (i.e., synthetic progesterone) and, sometimes, small doses of synthetic estradiol that bind to their respective neuroendocrine receptors throughout the brain (e.g., Enfield et al., 2020). By activating progesterone and estradiol receptors, these synthetic hormones facilitate progesterone- and estradiol-mediated psychological processes, including those implicated in sociality and parenting ability. Regarding sociality, women’s affiliative motives increase during the luteal phase of women’s cycles, when natural levels of progesterone are high (Makhanova et al., 2025; Schultheiss et al., 2003). Thus, the progestins contained in hormonal contraceptives may similarly boost affiliative psychological processes. Regarding parenting, receptors for progesterone and estradiol are present in brain regions implicated in parenting, and non-human research has experimentally demonstrated that administering synthetic progesterone and estradiol together primes maternal behavior (Bridges, 1984; Carollo et al., 2021; Dobolyi et al., 2014). Although such experimental work has not yet been extended to humans, the progestins and ethinyl estradiol contained in hormonal contraceptives may similarly activate psychological processes underlying women’s maternal care, including nurturing and care-taking qualities. Given that both sociality and parenting ability are important components of women’s mate value (Fisher et al., 2008), this body of work suggests the counter hypothesis that hormonal contraceptives may augment women’s affiliative motives and potential parenting ability and, consequently, women who use them (versus naturally cycling women) may perceive their traits and outcomes reflecting their mate value more positively.
It is worth noting that some prior work has examined whether variations in women’s fertility (i.e., across the ovulatory cycle, hormonal contraceptive use) are associated with their self-perceived physical attractiveness, a trait underlying overall mate value. These studies have yielded mixed findings. Whereas some found that naturally cycling women perceive themselves as more attractive during fertile (versus less-fertile) phases of their ovulatory cycles (Haselton & Gangestad, 2006; Röder et al., 2009; Schleifenbaum et al., 2021), this association failed to replicate in other studies (e.g., Gupta et al., 2024; Schwarz & Hassebrauck, 2008). And other recent work has shown that hormonal contraceptive use is not significantly associated with self-perceived sexual and physical attractiveness (Arslan et al., 2021; Schleifenbaum et al., 2021). Such work is notable for the current research because presumably more attractive women would be more successful in the mating market, and such success may increase their likelihood of using hormonal contraceptives to manage their pregnancy risk. Data from these prior studies contradict that notion. But because mate value encompasses more than just attractiveness, the possibility remains that women’s hormonal contraceptive use is associated with a broader suite of traits and outcomes that underlie women’s self-perceived mate value. We are aware of only one study that has directly examined such an association (Arthur & Blake, 2022); inconsistent with the competing possibilities we have laid out here, however, that study revealed a null association. Nevertheless, that work is a single study; more work is needed given the various theoretical reasons to expect an association (either negative or positive) between hormonal contraceptive use and self-perceptions of mate-value-relevant traits and outcomes.
Overview of the Current Research
The goal of the current research was to test competing predictions for whether associations between hormonal contraceptive use and women’s self-perceived mate-value-relevant traits and outcomes would emerge as negative versus positive. To the extent that fertility is a key factor underlying women’s mate value, one possibility is that women using (versus not using) hormonal contraceptives may perceive more negative mate-value-relevant traits and outcomes. The other possibility is that, to the extent that sociality and potential parenting ability are key factors underlying women’s mate value, women using hormonal contraceptives may perceive more positive mate-value-relevant traits and outcomes. Given that traits tied to women’s fertility have primacy for men’s attraction (e.g., Li et al., 2002), and given that the effect of hormonal contraceptive use on women’s fertility is strong and direct, we favored the suppressed-fertility prediction such that hormonal contraceptive use would be negatively associated with women’s perceived mate-value-relevant traits and outcomes.
We conducted three studies to test these competing hypotheses. Studies 1a and 1b used samples of unpartnered and newly married women, respectively, to test whether hormonal contraceptive use was associated with higher or lower self-perceived mating success, a classic proxy for mate value (Landolt et al., 1995). However, these studies’ operationalization of self-perceived mate value as perceived success in attracting partners may confound associations with sexual behavior and mating opportunities. Thus, Study 2 aimed to conceptually replicate any observed associations in Studies 1a and 1b using a different measure that directly assessed women’s perceptions of various traits underlying their mate value.
Study 1a
Participants
A total of 101 women enrolled in undergraduate psychology courses participated in an online study in exchange for partial course credit. Due to study goals unrelated to the current analyses, eligibility criteria required women to be (a) heterosexual and (b) single. Despite these criteria, two participants reported being in a serious relationship at the time of participation, one participant did not report her relationship status, and seven additional participants identified as non-heterosexual (lesbian: n = 3; bisexual: n = 3; other: n = 1). Given the heteronormative nature of our measure assessing self-perceived mating success, we excluded the non-heterosexual participants from our analyses. Due to a lack of theoretical reason to exclude the other three participants based on relationship status we opted to include them in all key analyses to maximize power, yielding a final sample size of 94 women.Footnote 1 These participants ranged in age from 18 to 23 (M = 19.52, SD = 1.24). Whereas most (69%) identified as White/Caucasian, 14% identified as Black or African American, 13% identified as Latina, 1% identified as Asian, and 3% identified as an ‘Other’ race/ethnicity.
Measures
Hormonal Contraceptive Use
Participants indicated whether they were (Yes/No) currently using hormonal contraception, defined as “oral contraceptives (the Pill), the patch, vaginal ring (NuvaRing), implants, or injections.” We dummy coded participants’ responses such that 0 = Naturally Cycling (i.e., Not Using Hormonal Contraceptives) and 1 = Hormonal Contraceptive Use. Overall, 38 (40%) participants reported using hormonal contraceptives, and 56 (60%) participants were naturally cycling.
Self-Perceived Mating Success
We used the Self-Perceived Mating Success Scale (Landolt et al., 1995), which is widely considered a classic proxy of self-perceived mate value (Bird et al., 2016; Durante et al., 2012; Eastwick & Hunt, 2014; Fisher et al., 2008; White et al., 2013). Rather than asking participants to evaluate their own desirability, this measure asks participants their perceived success in the mating market (e.g., “Members of the opposite sex that I like, tend to like me back”), which is a direct output of one’s mate value. Thus, a strength of this measure is that it relies less on participants’ subjective interpretations of what “desirability” means compared to the measure utilized in prior work (Arthur & Blake, 2022). It is worth noting that the wording of this validated scale is heteronormative, and we did not alter the wording of items given that we aimed to exclusively recruit heterosexual women. Participants responded using a 7-point scale ranging from 1 = “Disagree” to 7 = “Agree.” After reverse-scoring the necessary items, we averaged across all items to create a composite index; internal reliability of this measure was excellent (α = 0.92).
Conception Risk
Given ovulatory hormones are known to be associated with outcomes underlying women’s mate value, we computed a conception-risk score for each participant, based on their self-reported menstrual-cycle information, and used it as a covariate in a supplemental robustness analysis. More specifically, participants reported the date of the first day of their last menstruation and their average cycle length (in number of days). Consistent with prior work, we placed women on a “standard” 29-day cycle (e.g., Haselton & Gangestad, 2006; Meltzer, 2017) and used the backward-counting method (e.g., Garver-Apgar et al., 2008) and actuarial medical data (see Wilcox et al., 2001) to calculate their conception risk on the day they completed the study. Scores could range from 0.000 to 0.094, with higher scores indicating a higher probability of conception with a single act of intercourse. Given fertility is suppressed among women using hormonal contraceptives, we assigned all women using hormonal contraceptives a conception risk score of 0.000. We could not compute conception risk estimates for 6 naturally cycling participants whose reported cycle lengths were less than 25 days or greater than 35 days because the actuarial data estimates assume a cycle length considered to be within “normal” range.
Results
Primary Analysis
We conducted an ordinary least squares regression to test whether hormonal contraceptive use is associated (either positively or negatively) with women’s self-perceived mating success. Consistent with the perspective that the synthetic hormones contained in hormonal contraceptives may enhance some aspects of mate-value-relevant outcomes, but inconsistent with the perspective that reduced fertility would reduce mate-value-relevant outcomes, women who used hormonal contraceptives reported greater self-perceived mating success (M = 5.06, SD = 1.11) than did women who were naturally cycling (M = 4.29, SD = 1.28), b = 0.77, CI95% [0.28: 1.27], t(92) = 3.11, p = .003, effect-size r = .31. Notably, the observed effect-size r of 0.31 indicates a medium effect, wherein approximately 10% of the variance in self-perceived mating success was associated with women’s hormonal contraceptive status. Additionally, the estimated 0.77-unit difference in self-perceived mating success represents approximately 11% of the full range of the 7-point scale, indicating a nontrivial association.
Sensitivity Analyses
An astute reader may notice that two items from the self-perceived mating success scale assess perceptions of sexual opportunities (“I receive sexual invitations from members of the opposite sex” and “I can have as many sexual partners as I choose”), which may be associated with an increased likelihood of using hormonal contraception and therefore drive the observed positive association. We thus conducted a supplemental sensitivity analysis that repeated the above analysis but excluded those two sexual items from the scale’s composite (α = 0.94). Results emerged unchanged; women using hormonal contraceptives continued to report greater self-perceived mating success (M = 5.20, SD = 1.16) than did naturally cycling women (M = 4.57, SD = 1.28), b = 0.63, CI95% [0.12: 1.13], t(92) = 2.46, p = .016, effect-size r = .25. In a second sensitivity analysis we re-estimated the primary model but controlled for conception risk; the primary association continued to emerge as significant, b = 0.69, CI95% [0.02: 1.36], t(85) = 2.06, p = .042, effect-size r = .21, and, in this model, conception risk itself was not associated with self-perceived mating success, b = -2.04, CI95% [-14.87: 10.79], t(85) = -0.32, p = .753, effect-size r = .03.
Discussion
Results demonstrated preliminary support for the idea that women who use hormonal contraception perceive more positive mate-value-relevant outcomes (e.g., mating success) compared to women who are naturally cycling. Additionally, this association continued to emerge when accounting for between-person differences in fertility based on self-reported menstrual cycle data. Nevertheless, this finding is based on a small sample of (mostly) single women. Although sample homogeneity with respect to relationship status attenuates the possibility that results could be driven by tendencies for women in relationships—who may be higher in mating success—to be more likely to use hormonal contraception, it remains unknown whether this pattern of results would emerge similarly among partnered women. Additionally, given we measured self-perceived mating success, the observed positive association may simply reflect the possibility that women using (versus not using) hormonal contraceptives engage in more frequent sex. Thus, in Study 1b, we aimed to examine whether the observed positive association replicates (a) in a sample of newly married women and (b) when accounting for frequency of partnered sexual behavior.
Study 1b
Participants
We recruited 109 newly married women to participate in a two-year, dyadic, longitudinal study of marriage. We recruited via paid Facebook advertising and flyers posted around the local community. As part of the broader goals of the study, eligibility required that all participants were married fewer than three months, were at least 18 years of age, and read and spoke English (to ensure questionnaire comprehension). For the current analyses, we a priori excluded six women who had experienced menopause, both members of five same-sex female couples (given the heteronormative nature of the measure of self-perceived mating success we used), one woman who did not complete the mating success measure as any assessment, and one woman who completed only one assessment but was pregnant at that time (we excluded any assessment in which women were pregnant from the primary analyses). Thus, the final sample was comprised of 91 newly married women who, at baseline, were 28.65 (SD = 6.19) years of age and earned an average yearly salary of US$30,585 (SD = US$43,823). Most (74%) identified as White or Caucasian whereas 13% identified as Black or African American, 7% identified as Hispanic or Latina, 5% identified as Multiracial, and 1% identified as Asian. In total, 58% reported being employed full time, and 21% reported being full-time students.
Procedure
Following recruitment, participants completed a series of self-report measures via Qualtrics or through the mail that included a consent form, the key measures for the current analyses [i.e., current hormonal contraceptive use, self-perceived mating success, sexual frequency (used as a covariate in supplemental analyses), and whether they were pregnant (used as an exclusionary criterion)], as well as additional measures beyond the scope of the current analyses. They received US$100 for completing this baseline assessment and a corresponding laboratory session that is beyond the scope of the current analyses. We then reassessed all key measures for the current analyses yearly for the next two years (for a total of three assessments, which also included additional measures and laboratory visits beyond the scope of the current analyses). They received US$100 for completing each follow-up assessment.
Measures
Hormonal Contraceptive Use
At all assessments, participants indicated whether they were (Yes/No) currently using hormonal contraception, defined as “oral contraceptives (the Pill), the patch, vaginal ring (NuvaRing), implants, or injections.” We dummy coded responses such that 0 = Naturally Cycling and 1 = Hormonal Contraceptive Use. Participants who reported using hormonal contraception at any given assessment additionally indicated the type and specific brand. At baseline, 37 (41%) participants reported using hormonal contraceptives and 52 (57%) were naturally cycling (two were pregnant); of the 79 participants who completed the one-year follow-up assessment, 32 (40.5%) reported using hormonal contraceptives and 38 (48%) were naturally cycling (nine were pregnant); and of the 66 participants who completed the two-year follow-up assessment, 22 (33%) reported using hormonal contraceptives and 38 (58%) were naturally cycling (six were pregnant). Unfortunately, we did not observe sufficient instances of within-person changes in hormonal contraceptive use to examine whether such changes might predict corresponding changes in self-perceived mating success; thus, we utilize data from all assessments to maximize power but collapse across within- and between-person variance.Footnote 2
Self-Perceived Mating Success
At all assessments, participants completed the Self-Perceived Mating Success Scale (Landolt et al., 1995) that we used in Study 1a. Although we assessed all items in the original scale, we a priori excluded three items from analyses that we deemed not relevant to the current sample (i.e., newlywed couples participating in a study examining the early years of marriage): “Members of the opposite sex that I like tend to like me back,” “I receive sexual invitations from members of the opposite sex,” and “I can have as many sexual partners as I choose.”Footnote 3 The first of these items directly implies existing interest in extra-pair partners, and the other two items assume sexual interest either from or toward an extra-pair partner. We felt including these specific items at a time in marriage when commitment and satisfaction are typically at peak levels would introduce unnecessary error given participants’ responses to these items might be more a function of relationship dynamics rather than perceived mating success (indeed, retaining these three items somewhat lowered the scale’s inter-item reliability at most waves; see Supplemental Material). At each wave, we averaged participants’ responses to the remaining items to create a composite index (Wave 1: α = 0.94; Wave 2: α = 0.90; Wave 3: α = 0.92), where higher scores indicate higher self-perceived mating success.
Sexual Frequency
To rule out the possibility that the association between hormonal contraception and self-perceived mating success emerged because women using hormonal contraceptives have more frequent sex, we assessed sexual frequency and controlled for it in a supplemental robustness analysis. Specifically, at each assessment, participants provided a numerical estimate for the following single-item question: “Approximately how many times have you had sexual intercourse with your spouse over the past 30 days?”.
Pregnancy
Pregnancy is characterized by a distinct hormonal milieu, and although hormonal contraceptives mimic the sustained elevated progesterone levels that occur during pregnancy, being pregnant is phenomenologically different from the experience of using hormonal contraceptives. The current hypotheses primarily concern psychological differences between women who are naturally cycling versus using hormonal contraceptives, and pregnant women cannot be classified as either. Thus, at all assessments, women indicated whether they were currently pregnant (Yes/No), and we excluded any assessments completed while pregnant from analyses. Across the two-year study, 16 women were pregnant at least once.
Results
Primary Analysis
To examine the association between women’s hormonal contraceptive use and their self-perceived mating success, we estimated the following 2-level linear MIXED model in SPSS 31 (to account for these data’s nested nature):
where we (a) controlled for Time (coded such that 0 represented baseline) to account for temporal changes in self-perceived mating success (Bolger et al., 2003), (b) allowed the Intercept and Time estimates to vary randomly across people, (c) used restricted maximum likelihood estimation to account for missing follow-up assessments, and (d) specified a variance components covariance structure. Results appear in Table 1. Replicating the finding of Study 1a, on average over the two-year study, women who used hormonal contraceptives perceived greater self-perceived mating success (M = 4.35, SE = 0.21) than did women who were naturally cycling (M = 3.84, SE = 0.19), b = 0.51, t(182.91) = 2.36, p = .019, effect-size r = .17. Notably, the observed effect-size r of 0.17 indicates a small effect, wherein approximately 3% of the variance in self-perceived mating success was associated with women’s hormonal contraceptive status. Additionally, the estimated 0.51-unit difference in self-perceived mating success represents approximately 9% of the full range of the 7-point scale, indicating a modest but potentially meaningful association. Although this is notably smaller than the effect obtained in Study 1a, it is consistent with effect sizes reported in other studies examining associations between hormonal contraceptive use and relationship processes (e.g., r = .18 for the association with dyadic sexual desire; French et al. 2024a, b).
Supplemental Analysis
Given that women using (versus not using) hormonal contraceptives may engage in more frequent sex, we explored whether the observed positive association held controlling for sexual frequency (standardized); it did, b = 0.51, CI95% [0.08: 0.94], t(179.62) = 2.34, p = .021, effect-size r = .17. See the Supplemental Material for the full results of this supplemental analysis.
Discussion
Study 1b replicated the positive association observed in Study 1a, providing further evidence that hormonal contraceptive use is associated with higher (versus lower) self-perceived mating success. Whereas in Study 1a this positive association emerged in a sample of unpartnered, college-aged women, Study 1b demonstrated the generalizability of this association to a sample of slightly older, married women. However, a significant limitation of both studies is that we used self-perceived mating success as our primary mate-value-relevant outcome, which is more proximal to romantic opportunities and sexual behavior than mate value itself. Although we were able to demonstrate in Study 1b that the observed positive association between hormonal contraceptive use and self-perceived mating success emerged independent of the frequency of sexual behavior, it would be ideal to examine the key association using an alternative measure that goes beyond mating and romantic opportunities; Study 2 aimed to do just that.
Study 2
Mate value predicts mating success (Kirsner et al., 2003), which is why scholars have historically used self-perceived mating success as a proxy of self-perceived mate value (e.g., Eastwick & Hunt, 2014; Fisher et al., 2008). Although Studies 1a and 1b demonstrated that women’s hormonal contraceptive use was positively associated with their self-perceived mating success, it remains unknown whether this association extendes to traits that underlie mate value beyond sexual and mating opportunities. In Study 2, we aimed to address this limitation by using a (a) broader measure that assesses mate-value-relevant traits and (b) larger sample.
Participants
We recruited 181 female undergraduate and graduate students to participate in a broader speed-dating study. To be eligible, participants had to be at least 18 years of age, single, interested in forming a romantic relationship, enrolled as an undergraduate or graduate student at the university, and read and speak fluent English. We excluded three participants from the present analyses, yielding a final sample size of 178 participants.Footnote 4 Participants ranged from 18 to 39 years of age (M = 21.22, SD = 3.39). One-hundred thirty-eight (77.5%) participants were undergraduate students and 40 (22.5%) were graduate students, representing 65 different majors from across the university. The sample was somewhat diverse; 61% of participants identified as White, 23% identified as Black/African American, 17% identified as Latinx or Hispanic, 10% identified as Asian, and 2% identified as American Indian/Alaska Native (these categories were not mutually exclusive; 13% of participants selected more than one).
Procedure and Measures
We recruited participants using university-wide news e-mail blasts, digital flyers posted on social media (e.g., Instagram, Facebook), and on a subreddit for the university. Eligible participants reported (1) their biological sex, (2) who they were interested in dating (males or females), and (3) undergraduate or graduate student status; we used this information to schedule them for an appropriate upcoming speed-dating event (e.g., mixed-sex, same-sex, graduate-students only). Three days prior to their scheduled event, they completed a series of questionnaires via Qualtrics that included measures assessing their hormonal contraceptive use, self-perceived mate-value-relevant traits, and conception risk (used as a covariate in supplemental analyses), among other variables beyond the scope of the present analyses. Although there were additional phases of this study (i.e., the speed-dating event, first dates, follow-up assessments), the present analyses utilize data from the pre-event survey only. As compensation for completing the pre-event survey, participants received free entry to their speed-dating event. See French et al. (2024a) for additional details about this study’s procedure.
Hormonal Contraceptive Use
In their pre-event survey, participants indicated whether they were (Yes/No) currently using hormonal contraception (e.g., The Pill, NuvaRing, an IUD/implant, the Patch, etc.). We dummy coded responses such that 0 = Naturally Cycling and 1 = Hormonal Contraceptive Use. Overall, 100 participants (56%) were naturally cycling and 78 (44%) used hormonal contraception. Of note, we also asked hormonal contraceptive users their main reason for using hormonal contraception, and most (n = 46; 59%) reported reasons other than pregnancy prevention (e.g., to control acne, bleeding, or period pain; to regulate their cycles).
Mate-Value-Relevant Traits
We assessed women’s self-perceptions of various traits underlying mate value using a newly developed, unpublished measure (Fisher et al., 2026). This scale reflects the traits people prefer in short- and long-term partners (Brown et al., 2020; Buss & Schmitt, 1993; Jonason et al., 2019; Li & Kenrick, 2006; Regan et al., 2000), irrespective of biological sex, and thus theoretically underlie general mate value. In the current study, participants indicated the extent to which 29 different statements (13 items tapping traits associated with short-term desirability, 16 items tapping traits associated with long-term desirability) characterize themselves using a 7-point scale (1 = “Not at all like me;” 7 = “Very much like me”). Short-term traits included sexual passion and desirability (e.g., “I am sexually desirable”), physical attractiveness (e.g., “I am highly physically attractive”), and personality traits reflecting vitality (e.g., “People say I have a fun, exciting personality”). Long-term traits included social reputation (e.g., “People tend to think highly of me”), ambition and access to resources (e.g., “I am well educated), and faithfulness (e.g., “I am loyal and faithful”). See Supplemental Material for the specific wording of all items. Given that we were targeting women’s summative evaluations across all components of mate value (rather than individual or temporal components), we opted to average across all 29 items; internal reliability was high (α = .90).
Nevertheless, to ensure that any observed association with hormonal contraceptive use is not driven by heightened mating success and mating opportunities (which may lead women to use hormonal contraceptives), we additionally computed a restricted composite index that excluded three items pertaining to perceived romantic/mating opportunity (i.e., “I would not have any difficulty in finding someone for a short-term sexual/romantic relationship,” “In the past, it has been easy for me to get attention from members of the opposite sex,” and “I would not have any difficulty in finding someone for a long-term sexual/romantic relationship”) and three items pertaining to sexual passion (e.g., “I am sexually desirable,” “I am passionate and have a strong sex drive,” and “I am sexually inquisitive and like to try new things sexually”); internal reliability of this restricted index was also high (α = 0.86).
Conception Risk
We asked women to report the first day of their last menstruation and average cycle length, and we used the same method we used in Study 1a to calculate their conception risk on the day they completed the study. Also similar to Study 1a we assigned all women using hormonal contraceptives a conception risk score of 0.000. Six participants provided insufficient information to compute their conception risk; we additionally excluded 12 naturally cycling participants who reported cycle lengths less than 25 days or greater than 35 days because the actuarial data estimates assume a cycle length considered to be within “normal” range.
Results
Primary Analysis
To examine the association between women’s hormonal contraceptive use and perceptions of their traits underlying their mate value we conducted an ordinary least squares regression analysis. Consistent with the pattern of results obtained in Studies 1a and 1b, women who used hormonal contraceptives generally rated themselves more positively on mate-value-relevant traits (M = 5.48, SD = 0.59) than did naturally cycling women (M = 5.10, SD = 0.79), b = 0.37, CI95% [0.16: 0.58], t(176) = 3.47, p < .001, effect-size r = .25. Notably, the observed effect-size r of 0.25 indicates a small-to-medium effect, wherein approximately 6% of the variance in perceptions of mate-value-relevant traits was explained by women’s hormonal contraceptive status. Additionally, the estimated 0.38-unit difference in such perceptions represents approximately 6% of the full range of the 7-point scale, indicating a modest but potentially meaningful association.
Sensitivity Analyses
Next, we conducted two supplemental sensitivity analyses to examine the robustness of this observed association. In the first of these analyses, we re-estimated the primary model but replaced the full index that utilized all items with the restricted index that excluded items assessing mating opportunity and sexual passion; the primary association continued to emerge as significant, b = 0.27, CI95% [0.08: 0.46], t(176) = 2.82, p = .005, effect-size r = .21. In the second of these analyses, we re-estimated the primary model but controlled for conception risk; the primary association continued to emerge as significant, b = 0.48, CI95% [0.21: 0.75], t(156) = 3.48, p < .001, effect-size r = .27, and, in this model, conception risk itself was not associated with women’s perceptions of their mate-value-relevant traits, b = 2.95, CI95% [-1.52: 7.42], t(156) = 1.30, p = .194, effect-size r = .10.
Discussion
Study 2 conceptually replicated the positive associations observed in Studies 1a and 1b. Given this association emerged (a) in a larger, independent sample of women and (b) using a different measure with which we could remove items tapping perceived mating opportunities and sexuality, Study 2’s results provide further support for the notion that, relative to naturally cycling women, women using hormonal contraception perceive themselves more positively on various mate-value-relevant traits and outcomes. Crucially, this association does not appear to be driven by mating opportunities or sexuality.
It is also worth highlighting that most participants indicated primarily using hormonal contraception for purposes other than to manage their risk of pregnancy. This is notable because one possible interpretation of these findings is that women who perceive their mate-value related traits and outcomes more positively may be more likely to use hormonal contraception to prevent pregnancy, given increased mating opportunities. The fact that most participants were using hormonal contraception for reasons other than pregnancy prevention makes this alternative explanation unlikely.
Mini Meta-Analysis
Across three independent studies, we demonstrated a positive association between women’s hormonal contraceptive use and mate-value-relevant traits and outcomes. Nevertheless, the observed effect sizes varied. Furthermore, the only other study of which we are aware that examined this association (Arthur & Blake, 2022) demonstrated a null association (albeit positive, similar to the present findings).Footnote 5 Thus, we conducted a mini meta-analysis of the effect sizes for all four associations. Specifically, after computing an effect-size r for the null association reported by Arthur and Blake (r = .10), we used the Metafor package in R (Viechtbauer, 2010) to conduct the mini meta-analysis using maximum likelihood estimation. This analysis demonstrated a small but significant average effect-size r = .20, CI95% [0.10: 0.30], p < .001, suggesting that, across all known work reporting differences in mate-value-relevant traits and outcomes between hormonal contraceptive using versus naturally cycling women, women using hormonal contraceptives perceive more positive traits and outcomes.
General Discussion
We tested competing predictions regarding whether a hypothesized association between women’s hormonal contraceptive use and perceptions of their mate-value-relevant traits and outcomes would be negative versus positive. Results from three independent studies provided converging evidence that women using hormonal contraceptives perceived themselves as higher in mating success and generally embodying more traits that underlie mate value. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that hormonal contraceptives may pharmacologically boost some qualities underlying women’s mate value, including possibly their sociality and potential parenting ability. Of note, this positive association emerged (a) across unpartnered (Studies 1a and 2) and newly married women (Study 1b), (b) utilizing two different measures assessing mate-value-relevant traits and outcomes, and (c) independently of sexual activity (Study 1b) and mating opportunity (Study 2).
It is worth noting that these results differ from the only previous study of which we are aware that examined the association between women’s hormonal contraceptive use and mate-value-relevant traits (Arthur & Blake, 2022); that study demonstrated a positive but null association (p = .119. A mini-meta analysis of all four available associations to date yielded a significant albeit small positive association between women’s hormonal contraceptive use and perceptions of mate-value-relevant traits and outcomes.
Implications, Limitations, and Future Research Directions
This work is of broad theoretical importance. First, by adopting an interdisciplinary framework and drawing upon seemingly disparate literatures on evolutionary and psychobiological perspectives of romantic relationships, affiliation, and parenting, these findings broadly contribute to knowledge on the psychology of women. Specifically, these findings deepen our understanding of external factors that are associated with women’s mating-relevant traits and outcomes (e.g., hormonal contraceptives) and may be of broad interest to psychologists who study women and women’s relationships. Notably, whereas other work has demonstrated hormonal contraceptives are associated with attenuated psychological processes important to relationships such as partner jealousy (French et al., 2017) and dyadic sexual desire (French et al. 2024a, b), the current work provides preliminary evidence that hormonal contraceptives may also be associated with heightened outcomes for other psychological processes (e.g., self-perceptions of mate-value-relevant traits and outcomes) that also matter for women. Together, this body of work suggests that hormonal contraceptives are not inherently negative or positive, as the nature of their associations with psychological outcomes varies.
Some limitations of the current work offer additional guidance for future research. First, we would be remiss if we did not directly acknowledge that all three studies were correlational and thus pose interpretational limitations regarding directionality. Our competing hypotheses were based on the notion that hormonal contraception precedes perceptions of their mate-value-relevant traits and outcomes. However, because we simply compared women who used hormonal contraception to naturally cycling women, it is alternatively possible that such self-perceptions impact women’s decision to use hormonal contraception. Likewise, although we accounted for some plausible third variables (e.g., sexual frequency, mating opportunities), it remains possible that some other third variable leads women to use hormonal contraceptives and perceive more positive mate-value-relevant traits and outcomes. An experimental design that randomly assigns women to use hormonal contraceptives versus a placebo would be ideally positioned to test the extent to which women’s hormonal contraceptive use causally alters these self-perceptions. Additionally, although the majority of women in Study 2 reported using hormonal contraception for purposes other than to reduce their pregnancy risk, thereby making it unlikely that the observed association may be explained by this third variable, women’s motivations to use hormonal contraception may vary according to their mate value in interesting ways. For example, women who are high in mate value may be particularly likely to use hormonal contraception specifically to reduce their conception risk, but perhaps only until an ideal mating situation arises (e.g., a high quality, committed partner). Future research could also examine this possibility.
Second, given women often use hormonal contraception to protect against pregnancy and may do so in the context of their ongoing romantic relationships, the strength of the positive association observed here may differ for single versus partnered women. Although we were able to demonstrate that the association emerged among both single (Studies 1a and 2) and partnered (Study 1b) women, we could not directly assess whether relationship status moderates the strength of the association. Offering some preliminary evidence, a mini-meta analysis involving only the effects of the present studies (Studies 1a, 1b, and 2) did not reveal effect heterogeneity, Q(2) = 1.01, p = .605; nevertheless, future research should directly test this possibility.
Third, although we used existing research to speculate that synthetic activation of progesterone and/or estradiol-mediated processes that facilitate sociality and/or parenting ability may underlie the observed positive associations with mate-value relevant traits and outcomes, we were unable to test these mechanisms in the current work. Future research should aim to do so. Specifically, within-person experimental research demonstrating that hormonal contraceptive use pharmacologically boosts sociality-relevant traits (e.g., extraversion, interpersonal closeness, affiliative behaviors) or parenting-relevant traits (e.g., nurturance) that then, in turn, predict increases in mate value would be particularly compelling. Regarding parenting, specifically: one might wonder about the relevance of parenting for the mate value of the college-aged women in Studies 1a and 2. Indeed, the average age of the women in these two studies was 19 and 21 years of age, respectively, which is notably younger than the average age at which U.S. women become parents (27 years old; Osterman et al., 2023). However, evolved psychological mechanisms reflect unconscious motivations that facilitate fitness payoffs generally (e.g., Cosmides & Tooby, 2013) and thus perceived parenting ability should implicitly be incorporated into traits underlying mate value among young women who are of child-bearing age, even if they are not yet consciously considering or engaged in parenthood. Supporting this idea, parenting ability has emerged as an important component of mate value among college-aged samples (e.g., Fisher et al., 2008).
A fourth limitation of this work is that we could not explore whether women’s self-perceptions of mate-value-relevant traits and outcomes vary across type of hormonal contraception (e.g., oral contraceptives versus IUDs versus injections, different formulations of oral contraceptives) or personal history of hormonal contraceptive use. Recent work suggests factors such as the age at which women begin using hormonal contraceptives and/or duration of use can moderate hormonal-contraceptive associations (Hill & Mengelkoch, 2023). Additionally, given non-human animal experiments suggest that combined administration of synthetic progesterone and estradiol facilitates maternal behavior (Bridges, 1984; Carollo et al., 2021; Dobolyi et al., 2014), it is possible that the positive association between hormonal contraceptive use and self-perceived mate-value-relevant traits and outcomes could be strongest among users of combined (versus progestin-only) contraceptives. Unfortunately, we did not assess (a) women’s history of contraceptive use in any of these studies nor (b) type of hormonal contraception in Study 1a; although we assessed type of hormonal contraception in Studies 1b and 2, we did not have enough variability in the data to examine moderation by hormonal contraception type.Footnote 6 Relatedly, we also did not assess (a) other relevant medical information pertaining to hormone-related conditions (e.g., PCOS, thyroid disorders) or (b) whether participants were currently breastfeeding that could possibly influence the results reported here. Considering these factors would be important avenues for future research.
Conclusion
In three studies, women using hormonal contraceptives perceived more positive mate-value-relevant traits and outcomes relative to naturally cycling women. This finding extends the literature on associations between hormonal contraception and psychological mechanisms that facilitate how women navigate relationships. Notably, although hormonal contraceptives are often thought to be negatively associated with psychological processes (e.g., lower sexual satisfaction; French & Meltzer, 2020), this work suggests hormonal contraceptive use are simultaneously positively associated with other important processes and outcomes.
Data Availability
The data analyzed for Study 1a and Study 2 are available on the Open Science Framework, https://osf.io/ved24/overview?view_only=d156e1a3e3274603b08e43b5b04f30e4 Data for Study 1b are not publicly available because the nature of the study’s key variables make them potentially identifiable; these data are, however, available from the authors upon reasonable request.
Change history
20 August 2026
The original online version of this article was revised: Following the publication of the original article, the corresponding author identified an error in the author information. The co-author's name, Maryanne Fisher, is missing the middle initial. The correct name should be Maryanne L. Fisher.
22 August 2026
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-026-09530-3
Notes
A sensitivity analysis revealed that the results were not meaningfully altered when excluding these three participants.
Twenty-two participants (24%) reported at least one change to their hormonal contraceptive use during the study. Of these participants, five did not complete the measure of self-perceived mating success at either of their yearly follow-up assessments. Thus, any tests of within-person associations would be based on only 17 participants’ changes in hormonal contraceptive use. Although we were not statistically powered to test such within-person associations, we explored them nonetheless; these results are reported in Supplemental Material for interested readers.
See Supplemental Materials for a sensitivity analysis that re-examined the key association between hormonal contraceptive use and self-perceived mating success utilizing all items in the original scale; in that analysis, the association weakened to nonsignificance (p = .065).
Given the theoretical framework of our hypotheses and that female fertility degrades substantially by the age of 45 (García et al., 2018), we excluded two older participants (48 and 55 years of age); of note, a robustness analysis revealed that all results emerged unchanged when we retained them. One additional participant reported their biological sex as ‘Other’ and thus did not receive the item assessing their hormonal contraceptive use.
At the time of writing, this is the only prior study we are aware of that reported an association between hormonal contraceptive use and traits or outcomes relevant to mate value; indeed, most prior work examining perceived mate-value-relevant traits or outcomes has historically excluded hormonal contraceptive users.
An astute reader may wonder whether some women using copper IUDs (i.e., non-hormonal contraception) were misclassified as hormonal contraception users. Although this is possible in Study 1a where we did not assess contraception type, no participants in Studies 1b or 2 reported using a copper IUD.
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J.F.: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis, Writing- Original draft. E.B.: Writing- Original draft. E.A.: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation. M.F.: Methodology, Writing- Revised draft. A.M.: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis, Writing- Original draft.
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The original online version of this article was revised: Following the publication of the original article, the corresponding author identified an error in the author information. The co-author's name, Maryanne Fisher, is missing the middle initial. The correct name should be Maryanne L. Fisher.
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French, J.E., Barron, E., Altgelt, E.E. et al. Hormonal Contraceptives and Women’s Mate-Value-Related Traits and Outcomes. Hum Nat (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-026-09529-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-026-09529-w