4. Discussion
High-oestradiol women were considered significantly more physically attractive by themselves and others. These women reported somewhat lower levels of satisfaction with and commitment to their primary partners, and a significantly greater likelihood along various dimensions of becoming acquainted with new potential mates. However, whereas high-oestradiol women reported being significantly more likely to have a serious affair, they did not indicate a greater likelihood of having brief sexual encounters. Furthermore, high-oestradiol women had significantly more long-term, but not short-term, relationships. Therefore, the results suggest that women with high oestradiol levels have higher mate value and are more likely to be aligned towards serial monogamy.
Oestradiol level was positively correlated with self-perceived (r(45)=0.46, p=0.001, d=1.04) and other-perceived attractiveness (r(44)=0.41, p=0.005, d=0.90). Oestradiol was not significantly correlated with women's relationship satisfaction (r(25)=−0.33, p=0.095, d=0.70) or [b[commitment[/b] (r(25)=−0.37, p=0.067, d=0.80).
(b) Mating orientation and history
Oestradiol was positively correlated with lifetime number of long-term relationships (r(45)=0.37, p=0.013, d=0.80). However, oestradiol was not associated with preferences for long-term (r(45)=0.08, p=0.62) or short-term relationships (r(45)=−0.05, p=0.75) or with SOI score (r(45)=0.17, p=0.29). Furthermore, there was no relationship between oestradiol and the number of one-night stands (r(45)=0.03, p=0.85).