Gendered personality dispositions, hormone values, and hot flushes during and after menopause

Abstract

The study aim was to test the relationship between gendered personality dispositions (GPD), sex hormones, and vasomotor complaints in the menopausal transition. Fifty-seven healthy women (mean age 51.1 years, standard deviation 2.0) were drawn from a population registry. At enrolment all women were menstruating regularly, and all women reached menopause in the course of the study. Questionnaire data and blood samples were collected once a year over a period of five years. GPD scores (based on the Bern Sex-Role Inventory, BSRI), frequencies of hot flushes and hormone data (estradiol, follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, testosterone, androstendione and dehydroepiandrostendione sulfate) were determined. Subjects were placed into four categories based on the BSRI: masculine, feminine, androgynous and undifferentiated.

GPD did not change during the menopausal transition. Testosterone and androstendione were related to GPD in that testosterone and androstendione were higher in the sex typed categories (masculine and feminine) than in the non sex-typed categories (androgynous and undifferentiated).

GPD are related both to androgens and to vasomotor complaints such as hot flushes during the menopausal transition, but the mechanisms of these relationships are not known.

Key Words:

• menopause
• gendered personality dispositions
• hot flushes
• sex hormones