Ladies, do you prefer to walk on the wild side of Wall Street? Blame it on testosterone. Women with higher testosterone levels are more likely to choose high-risk financial careers, suggests a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science and reported on by HealthDay News.

To check the connection between risk aversion and testosterone levels, researchers from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Illinois collected and measured the saliva of 500 students getting their master’s in business administration.

Women with higher levels of testosterone had a greater affinity for risk-taking, but not so for men. In both sexes with similar testosterone levels, there was no difference in risk aversion.

Researchers also found that risk-loving participants with high testosterone levels were more likely to go into high-risk financial careers post-graduation.

“This is the first study showing that gender differences in financial risk aversion have a biological basis, and that differences in testosterone levels between individuals can affect important aspects of economic behavior and career decisions,” said the study’s co-author, David Maestripieri, a University of Chicago professor in comparative human development.

Read more about testosterone in RH’s “The Hormone War.”