The influence of prenatal hormones on occupational choice: 2D:4D evidence from Moscow

• A large scale study using occupational actual choice data and measured 2D:4D ratios.
• The study is based on a representative sample from Moscow and the Moscow region.
• Women in enterprising occupations exhibited lower measured 2D:4D ratios than average.
• Those in conventional and social work had higher 2D:4D ratios.
• Results confirm previous findings on 2D:4D and gender-specific occupational interests.

There has been increasing evidence that androgen exposure affects interest in various occupations in sex-specific ways. But the most recent large scale study in this area (Hell & Päβler, 2011) was based on online surveys of occupational interest rather than actual choices. Our paper is based on a large scale survey of working age Russians from the Moscow region who also consented to have measurements of their fingers taken. Using the Holland classification of job types, we observed that women in enterprising occupations exhibited lower measured 2D:4D ratios (higher prenatal testosterone exposure) than average while those in conventional and social work had higher 2D:4D ratios. There were also a number of significant differences in average 2D:4D ratios between people in different occupational groups. In general it is consistent with views that low 2D:4D is associated with more male-specific interests and high 2D:4D with more stereotypical female interests. But interpretation of the results depends on the relative accuracy of the Holland typology and may be influenced by the fact that similar groupings may mask different types of jobs for men and women within the same Holland occupational class.