level rises in men awaiting a contest, regardless of the eventual outcome contest. Generalizing to the street, hormone levels should be elevated in young men who are constantly against assaults on their reputations. Of course, testosterone level is also affected by the outcome of the contest, so persistentlosers might be hormonally depressed, but most men, those with mixed outcome or better, should have elevated testosterone level. ( 3. Diamond) Leaving behind the historic roots of the South, there may be a general hypersensitivity to insult in any subculture that is, or once was organized around young men who are constantly constrained by traditional community agents of social control, as after occurs in frontier countries, gangs, among bohemians, and after social breakdown or natural diseases. When young men place special emphasis on protecting their images and reputations, and they are not restrained from doing so, dominance contests become necessary, the hallmark of male to male interaction. ( 5. Toch) To interpret racial differences in testosterone, a comparison of black and white boys ages 6 to 18 years, mostly preteens, showed no significant race different in testosterone. By adulthood, black males do have significantly higher testosterone levels than white males, possibly reflecting the higher defensive demands on black men during adulthood. ( 10. Hauser, Powers, Noam) The reciprocal linkage between hormones and behavior suggests that if testosterone levels among young men in the inner city are highlighted by their constant defensive posture against challenge and these high hormone levels in turn encourage further dominance contests. Feedback between challenge and testosterone may create a various circle, sometimes with lethal effects.(7. Hawkins, Fredman) During puberty, the effects of testosterone on behavior appear to work primarily through long term reorganizations of the body and neurohormanal system, and only secondary thr...
