A new research, titled "Physical attractiveness and cardiometabolic risk" published in the American Journal of Human Biology, suggests that physical attractiveness might be linked to good health. Individuals rated above average in attractiveness showed better health a decade later.
The study aimed to explore the relationship between attractiveness and health outcomes, as previous studies hinted at attractive facial features being associated with better health perception. However, the reliability of these associations has been questioned from theoretical and methodological viewpoints.
The Link Between Physical Attractiveness and Long-Term Health
The researchers aimed to explore the link between physical attractiveness and health, accounting for potential confounding factors. According to PsyPost, they utilized data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, assessing participants' attractiveness on a scale of 1 to 5 and analyzing cardiometabolic risk measures derived from blood tests and medical exams.
Considering factors like socioeconomic status, personality traits, intelligence, and self-rated health, the study found that individuals rated as above average in attractiveness demonstrated noticeably better health after a 10-year follow-up. This association persisted even after accounting for various predictors of health.
The University of Oslo Sociology Professor Alexi Gugushvili, the study author, told PsyPost that the key takeaway message of the research was those physically attractive individuals, without any additional information, tended to be healthier on average than their less attractive counterparts a decade later.
The impact of body mass index (BMI) on the attractiveness-health relationship was explored. Higher BMI moderated the effect of attractiveness on health outcomes, but the link between attractiveness and cardiometabolic risk remained statistically significant, even after adjusting for BMI's influence.
Physical Unattractiveness Linked to Lower Cardiometabolic Risk
The study's intriguing discovery is that individuals rated as "very unattractive" exhibit lower cardiometabolic risk, consistent with earlier research suggesting potential advantages for very unattractive individuals in various life outcomes. A 2018 study published in the journal Economics & Human Biology revealed that "very unattractive" individuals tended to have higher incomes, often earning more than both unattractive and average/attractive respondents.
However, the researchers acknowledged certain limitations, including potential biases from interviewer-assessed physical attractiveness and the possibility of reverse causation between physical attractiveness and health.
Gugushvili highlighted that the study measured health outcomes using an allostatic load, representing the cumulative burden of chronic stress and life events on human bodies. Still, future research should explore connections between physical attractiveness and mortality outcomes.
Despite these limitations, the main finding of the study suggests that individuals described as attractive tend to enjoy better health over a 10-year period, supporting evolutionary perspectives.
Overall, the study provides fresh evidence supporting the idea that physical attractiveness and health are related, though the exact mechanisms underlying this relationship remain speculative and require further investigation.
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