Brief communicationBaseline cortisol moderates testosterone reactivity to women's intercollegiate athletic competition

- Women athletes gave saliva samples before and after an athletic competition.
- Athletic competition increased salivary cortisol and testosterone.
- High cortisol women had a reduced testosterone response to competition.
- Cortisol appears to moderate testosterone reactivity to athletic competition.

Recent research suggests that cortisol (C) level moderates testosterone (T) reactivity to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) in men. The extent to which C moderates T reactivity in other circumstances and in women is not known. In this retrospective study, before- and after-competition salivary levels of C and T from 97 intercollegiate women athletes competing in one of four different sports (soccer, volleyball, softball, tennis) were used to evaluate the influence of before-competition C level on T reactivity in women's athletic competition. Athletic competition was associated with a substantial increase in salivary levels of C and T in the vast majority of athletes. Before-competition level of C significantly moderated testosterone reactivity to athletic competition - women with relatively low levels of C showed larger increases in T to competition than women with higher levels of C. Clearly, the moderating effect of C on T reactivity is not limited to laboratory settings intended to increase social stress, but is also seen in (as we show here) the context of athletic competition.