Low hormone response may contribute to women avoiding intimacy

[Felix]

Medical Xpress
Jared Wadley
http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-hormone-response-contribute-women-intimacy.html

The effects of avoidance were not observed in men or among women exposed to neutral or positive situations, said Robin Edelstein, U-M assistant professor of psychology and the study's lead author.

Edelstein and colleagues assessed changes in estradiol, a steroid hormone associated with attachment and care giving. Estradiol plays important roles in parent-infant bonding, as well as romantic relationships involving adults.

[Jamie D]

Edelstein and colleagues assessed changes in estradiol, a steroid hormone associated with attachment and care giving. Estradiol plays important roles in parent-infant bonding, as well as romantic relationships involving adults....

"Our findings demonstrate that, for some people, viewing emotionally intimate stimuli can increase estradiol levels, but this was not the case for women who are more detached from close relationships," said Edelstein....

The fact that estradiol responses among women who are emotionally detached are similar to other women's after viewing neutral or positive stimuli suggests that emotionally detached women may be selectively inattentive to emotional intimacy.