Effects of competition and its outcome on serum testosterone, cortisol and prolactin

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Abstract

In various species, competitive encounters influence hormonal responses in a different way depending on their outcome, victory or defeat. This study aimed to investigate the effects of sports competition and its outcome on hormonal response, comparing it with those displayed in situations involving non-effort and non-competitive effort. To this end, serum testosterone (T), cortisol (C) and prolactin (PRL) were measured in 26 judoists who participated in three sessions (control, judo fight and ergometry). The relationship between hormonal changes and psychological variables before and after the fight were also analysed. Our results showed a hormonal response to competition, which was especially characterized by an anticipatory rise of T and C. Depending on outcome, significant higher C levels were found in winners in comparison to losers through all the competition but not in T or PRL, both groups expending a similar physical effort. Furthermore, similar hormonal responses to the fight and to a non-competitive effort with the same caloric cost were found, other than with PRL. Winners showed a higher appraisal of their performance and satisfaction with the outcome, and perceived themselves as having more ability to win than losers, although there were no significant differences in motivation to win. Finally, the relationships found between T changes in competition and motivation to win, as well as between C response and self-efficacy suggest that in humans hormonal response to competition is not a direct consequence of winning and losing but rather is mediated by complex psychological processes.

Introduction

Competitive interactions seem to affect hormonal responses in numerous species, these responses being different depending on the outcome, victory or defeat (Archer, 1988, Brain, 1990). Experiments carried out with rodents show that single or repeated defeats lead to a hyperactivation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis with increases in ACTH and corticosterone, as well as decreases in prolactin (PRL) and testosterone (T), although not always such T decreases have been found. At a behavioural level, social stress produced by defeat leads to changes in a wide variety of aspects, including increased anxiety and decreased aggressive behaviour (for review, see Martı́nez et al., 1998). It has been hypothesized that hormonal changes resulting from social interactions may modify the future behaviour in order to maximise the possibilities of survival (Leshner, 1980, Bernstein et al., 1983, Mazur, 1985). From an evolutionary point of view, the biosocial hypothesis (Mazur, 1985, Mazur and Booth, 1998) suggests that there is a feedback loop between an individuals T level and his/her posterior efforts to improve or maintain the social status. It states that aggressive behaviour leads to more or less stable endocrine adaptations, which can determine future behaviour. Thus, winning would lead to an increase in T, which, in turn, stimulates competitiveness. Conversely, defeat would involve a decrease in T that should reduce the possibilities of engaging in new potentially damaging encounters.

The effects of competitive encounters and their outcome on hormonal levels can be studied not only by means of an experimental approach but also by observing spontaneous interactions which occur in natural social situations (Sapolsky, 1991). In humans, some researchers have analysed sports competitions considering them socially acceptable situations where individuals compete in such a way that the outcome affects their sports status. In a first study, Mazur and Lamb (1980) reported increases in the plasma T levels of winners and decreases in losers of tennis matches and concluded that these androgenic variations depended on the individual’s mood. Later, Booth et al. (1989) also reported differences, although not statistically significant, in T when comparing samples obtained 15 min before tennis matches with others obtained immediately afterwards. In contact sports, results have not been unanimous. Comparing blood samples obtained 10 min before and 10 min after wrestling bouts, Elias (1981) found that winners showed significantly greater percent changes of T and higher levels of cortisol (C) than losers. However, non-significant differences depending on the outcome were found comparing samples collected 10 min before and 45 min after a judo fight (Salvador et al., 1987, Salvador et al., 1990b). In the mentioned studies, significant hormonal differences were found close to the end of the event, thus these variations could also be due, at least in part, to differences in the physical effort developed. Obviously, the stress due to competition is added to the physiological stress caused by exertion, which in itself is a powerful stimulus capable of affecting numerous hormones (Howlett, 1987, Sutton et al., 1990).

Bearing all this in mind, the first aim of this study was to investigate the hormonal response to a sports competition and compare it with those shown in non-competitive effort and in non-effort situations. The second purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of outcome on endocrine response and the potential role of physical effort in this response. A further aim was to examine the relationships between hormonal responses and psychological aspects (such as the motivation to win, self-efficacy, performance self-appraisal, and satisfaction with the outcome) as well as the influence of outcome on these aspects. In order to get a more complete background of the endocrine response in humans, not only did we study T and C but also PRL levels which have been seen to be modified by competition in other species.

Section snippets

Subjects

The sample was composed of 28 male judo fighters who were recruited from several Sports Clubs of Valencia (Spain). Their technical level ranged between brown belt and 3rd Dan black belt and they trained daily for an average of 2 h. All the subjects gave written consent to participate in the study and were financially remunerated for it. They were not taking any drugs or medication and had no history or endocrine disorders before or during this study. Their main characteristics are described in

Hormonal response to competition

Hormonal concentrations were within reference values reported for the different kits used (Table 2); only one subject who showed very high T values before FIGHT (more than 2-fold SEM value) was discarded from the analyses for this hormone.

A MANOVA (2 (pre/post)×3 (CONT/FIGHT/ERG)) was carried out for each hormone. Results for T revealed significant main effects of ‘moment’ ([F[1,24]=24.29, P=.001), ‘session’ (F[2,23]=18.84, P=.001) and ‘moment×session’ interaction (F[2,23]=7.08, P=.004). As can

Discussion

Higher T and C levels were found during the competition than in non-competitive physical effort and non-physical effort situations. These higher levels appeared before the events, confirming an anticipatory response of these hormones to competitive situations. Anticipatory C responses before different stressful events including muscular exercise and sports competitions have been described (Mason et al., 1973, Booth et al., 1989, Sutton et al., 1990). More recently, T rises in anticipation to

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Dr Clemens Kirschbaum and an anonymous referee for his suggestions and comments on an earlier version of the manuscript and the General Sports Service of the Valencian Government for the use of facilities to carry out the laboratory sessions. This study was supported by grants no. DEP89-235 and DEP90-874 from the Spanish Committee for Scientific and Technical Research.

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