The relationship between sex steroid hormones and behavioural inhibition (BIS) and behavioural activation (BAS) in adolescent boys and girls

This paper analyses the association between free testosterone (FT), free estradiol (FE2) and Carver and White’s (1994) four-factor model of behavioural inhibition (BIS) and behavioural activation (BAS) within a sample of adolescent boys (N = 301, mean age: 14.4 years) and girls (N = 298, mean age: 14.3 years). No direct relationship between FT and BIS or BAS was found in either boys or girls. An association between FE2 and BAS-fun was found in boys and in girls. In addition, with respect to girls, interaction-effects were found indicating a positive association between FE2 and BAS-drive and a negative association between FT and BAS-fun depending on menstrual cycle phase.