Are Psychosocial Resources Associated With Perceived Facial Aging in Men?

Abstract

Background: Looking younger than actual age has been related to a variety of health outcomes. Optimism, self-esteem, and relationship satisfaction are important psychosocial resources for mental health. Little is known about their relation with a younger facial appearance. Objective: This study analyzed whether these psychosocial resources are associated with a younger facial appearance and if their effects were mediated through mental health. Method: A sample of N = 223 self-reporting healthy men aged 40 to 75 years filled in questionnaires to assess optimism (Life Orientation Test–Revised), self-esteem (Multidimensional Self-Esteem Scale), relationship satisfaction (Relationship Assessment Scale), and mental health (Short-Form Health Survey). Five female raters estimated the visual age of each participant from a frontal face photograph. Results: Looking younger (compared with chronological age) was correlated with optimism, relationship satisfaction, and mental health. Mediation analyses and structural equation modeling indicated that mental health mediated the association between each psychosocial resource and a younger appearance. Discussion: The results emphasize the importance of promoting psychosocial resources and mental health in men 40+ for the maintenance of good health and the deceleration of facial aging.

Can neuroscience help to understand narcissism? A systematic review of an emerging field

“…This concerns on the one hand their consistency, and on the other hand, the extent to which differences are associated with biological sex or social gender. Though some of the findings reviewed here suggest that biological mechanisms might be involved (Noser, 2017; Pfattheicher, 2016), others show that these associations also depend upon social factors (Dane et al, 2018; Mead et al, 2018). Thus, the social component in terms of gender role orientation must not be missed, and only studies assessing both dimensions can inform about their relative significance. The study of interpersonal personality functioning in narcissism could systematically investigate the extent to which social affect and cognition, particularly empathy and perspective-taking, which are increasingly recognized as two different mental processes with different neural correlates (Kanske et al, 2016, 2015), are reduced or impaired in grandiose and vulnerable narcissism.…”

“…Table 2 summarizes the remaining 32 studies. In addition to these published studies, we also found two unpublished doctoral dissertations meeting the abovementioned criteria (Krusemark, 2009 ; Noser, 2017 ), which we also included in the main part of this review and Table 2 , leading to a total of 34 studies. Finally, our literature search identified one hypothesis proposal (Jankowiak-Siuda & Zajkowski, 2013 ), two review articles that each cover parts of the research reviewed here (Coleman et al, 2019 ; Di Sarno et al, 2018 ), one conceptual paper (George & Short, 2018 ), and four book chapters (Konrath & Bonadonna, 2014 ; Elizabeth A. Krusemark, 2012 , 2018 ; Schulze & Roepke, 2014 ), which do not present empirical data but rather integrate previous studies.…”

The Swiss Perimenopause Study – study protocol of a longitudinal prospective study in perimenopausal women

“…Recent research showed that a higher 2D:4D is associated with a higher age at menopause, while a lower 2D:4D (interpreted as suggesting a higher androgen exposure during the prenatal phase) is associated with a lower age at menopause [30]. As our workgroup has shown that looking younger than one's actual age can be related to a variety of health outcomes [31], we take standardized facial photographs of all participants. The full list of biopsychosocial factors included in this study is shown in Tables 1 and 2.…”

Emotions and Steroid Secretion in Aging Men: A Multi—Study Report

“…All participants provided written informed consent, and the study protocol was approved by the local Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Zurich. Prior published data of this sample can be reviewed here (Walther et al, 2016 , 2017a , b ; Noser et al, 2017 ).…”