van Anders

social neuroendocrinology lab

hormones+gender/sex+evolution+sexuality

CLICK HERE if you're interested in participating in research, and want more info!
Or, contact us at salivaresearch@umich.edu

Our research is supported by:
the National Institutes of Health (National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases),
the American Institute of Bisexuality,
and internal grants from the University of Michigan.
Project-specific support is listed below.

Hormones and Intimacy in Social Context

We study associations between hormones and intimacy in humans. We focus on three types of intimacy: sexuality, pairbonding/partnering, and nurturance. We are especially interested in social modulation of hormones; i.e., how intimate behaviors and contexts alter human endocrinology, and the implications of intimacy-hormone links for health and evolutionary processes. We study immune parameters to tap physiological health parameters, and are mainly focused on testosterone.

Some of the unique features of our lab include our:
*multilevel approach to human intimacy from hormones to social behavior to culture;
*focus on sexual and other diversity at all levels of research;
*incorporation of different types of intimacy;
*interdisciplinary collaborations with, e.g., social workers, medical practitioners, immunologists, theatre directors, nurse/midwives, and psychological scientists from social, clinical, and developmental areas;
*inclusion of both women and men and attention to gender diversity;
*focus on feminist and inclusive science practice;
*and interest in understanding intimacy within a comparative and evolutionary framework.

See below for info on past, current, and upcoming projects from one of four topic areas (Sexuality; Partnering/Pair Bonding/Relationships; Nurturance; Gender & Academia/Feminist Science Practice)!

Sexuality

We study bidirectional associations between sexual parameters and hormones and are especially interested in sexual modulation of testosterone. We are trying to figure out what aspects of sexuality are linked to androgens and how these associations are influenced by social context. We are also interested in related non-hormonal questions about sexuality and social context.

We have a new large 5-yr project funded by the NIH (NIAID) (1R01AI094563-01) to examine "sexual modulation of HIV-relevant vaginal immunity." co-investigators on this project are Drs. David Aronoff, Dennis Fortenberry, and Steven King.

• How sexual activity changes hormones and immune parameters (with Drs. David Aronoff, Dennis Fortenberry, and Steven King);
• How various types of sexual stimuli change hormones;
• How sexual desire and testosterone are linked, and what social/psychological variables mediate this association;
• How entering and leaving different kinds of relationships alter sexual health and sexual risk behaviors over time (with Drs. Terri Conley and Divya Patel);
• Postpartum sexual health and sexual experiences for women and men in same- and mixed-gender couples (with Dr. Lisa Kane-Low);
• How different modalities of sexual stimuli affect sexual arousal;

Partnering, Pair Bonding, and Relationships

We study bidirectional associations between partnering and steroid hormones, and are especially interested in what social factors mediate differences in testosterone by partnering status, how gender/sex moderates these patterns and the evolutionary implications of these patterns. We try to focus on diverse aspects of partnering, from long distance relationships to casual relationships to polyamory and to monoamory (and beyond!).

We have a project funded by the American Institute of Bisexuality, Inc. to examine "Multigender partnering and polyamory: Dynamic implications for bisexuality and hormones."

We also have a project funded by the Office of the Vice President for Research on "Influences of cuddling and attachment on neuroendocrine and psychological outcomes" with Dr. Robin Edelstein.

• How entering and leaving different kinds of relationships changes hormones over time (with Drs. Terri Conley and Divya Patel);
• Understanding and fleshing out findings that testosterone is related to relationship orientation in men but relationship status in women, the role of sexuality in this pattern, and seeing how this relates to other research on sexual fluidity;
• Overlaps between hormonal substrates for parent-child bonding and pair bonding;
• How addressing sexual diversity can further our understandings of the evolution of pairbonding;
• How entering and leaving different kinds of relationships alter sexual health and sexual risk behaviors over time (with Drs. Terri Conley and Divya Patel);
• how cuddling and close physical intimacy between relationship partners alter adult hormone levels;
• Experiences of cuddling as sexual vs. nurturant between partners;
• How attachment moderates effects of partner cuddling on hormones and experiences of cuddling(with Dr. Robin Edelstein);

Nurturance

We study bidirectional associations between nurturanceand steroid hormones, and are especially interested in how interactions with infants influence adult hormones.

• How testosterone responses to infant interactions predict aggressive responses (with Drs. Richard Tolman & Justin Carre);
• How interacting with infants alters adult hormones and how efficacy influences physiological and affective responses (with Drs. Richard Tolman & Brenda Volling);
• Overlaps between hormonal substrates for parent-child bonding and pair bonding;
• How feelings of protection vs. nurturance moderate effects of parent-child cuddling on adult hormones;
• Experiences of parent-child intimacy and effects on hormones;

Feminist Science & Inclusive Research Practices; Socially Situated Neuroendocrinology

We are interested in systemic factors that influence gendered representations in science, and issues around lab practice and mentoring.

• How gender-related nomenclature may obviate certain types of scientific questions;
• How gender/sex of reported species in papers is linked to citations rates;
• Inclusive research and lab practices;
• Legal definitions of gender/sex and how hormones are implicated in these definitions;