Hormonal variation over the menstrual cycle alters women’s preferences for phenotypic indicators of
men’s genetic or parental quality. Hormonal contraceptives suppress these shifts, inducing different
mate preference patterns among users and non-users. This raises the possibility that women using oral
contraception (OC) choose different partners than they would do otherwise but, to date, we know neither
whether these laboratory-measured effects are sufficient to exert real-world consequences, nor what these
consequences would be. Here, we test for differences in relationship quality and survival between women
who were using or not using OC when they chose the partner who fathered their first child. Women who
used OC scored lower on measures of sexual satisfaction and partner attraction, experienced increasing
sexual dissatisfaction during the relationship, and were more likely to be the one to initiate an eventual
separation if it occurred. However, the same women were more satisfied with their partner’s paternal provision, and thus had longer relationships and were less likely to separate. These effects are congruent with evolutionary predictions based on cyclical preference shifts. Our results demonstrate that widespread
use of hormonal contraception may contribute to relationship outcome, with implications for human
reproductive behaviour, family cohesion and quality of life.
Keywords: mate choice; contraceptive pill; attractiveness;
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