A recent study in the U. S. Suggests that some women with higher testosterone levels are more likely to choose high-risk financial careers.

Paola Sapienza, an associate professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, said, "In general, women are more risk-averse than men when it comes to making important financial decisions, which in turn can affect their career choices".

She observed in a sample set that 36 percent female students in an MBA course opted to go for high-risk financial careers as compared to the 57 percent male students in the same course.

This was concluded by measuring the testosterone levels in the saliva samples collected from 500 MBA students at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Another experiment was conducted to find the link between testosterone levels and risk aversion.

The results suggested that higher levels of testosterone were related with a greater chance for risk in women but not in men. It also showed that women and men with similar levels of testosterone did not display any gender difference in risk aversion.

This is the first study which links the difference in risk aversion in women and men to biological aspects.