Physical attractiveness and cardiometabolic risk

Abstract

ObjectivesThere is only limited evidence suggesting that physical attractiveness and individuals' actual health are causally linked. Past studies demonstrate that characteristics related to physical attractiveness are more likely to be present in healthy individuals, including those with better cardiovascular and metabolic health, yet many of these studies do not account for individuals' initial health and socioeconomic characteristics, which are related to both physical attractiveness and later life health.MethodsWe use panel survey data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health in the United States to examine the relationship between interviewer‐rated in‐person physical attractiveness and actual cardiometabolic risk (CMR) based on a set of relevant biomarkers: LDL cholesterol, glucose mg/dL, C‐reactive protein, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and resting heart rate.ResultsWe identify a robust relationship between individuals' physical attractiveness and 10‐year follow up actual health measured by the levels of CMR. Individuals of above‐average attractiveness appear to be noticeably healthier than those who are described as having average attractiveness. We find that individuals' gender and race/ethnicity do not have a major effect on the described relationship. The link between physical attractiveness and health is affected by interviewers' main demographic characteristics. We carefully address the possibility of confounders affecting our results including sociodemographic and socioeconomic characteristics, cognitive and personality traits, initial health problems and BMI.ConclusionOur findings are largely in line with the evolutionary perspective which assumes that physical attractiveness is linked to individuals' biological health. Being perceived as physically attractive might also imply, among other aspects, high levels of satisfaction with life, self‐confidence and ease of finding intimate partners, all of which can positively affect individuals' health.

Physical attractiveness and intergenerational social mobility

“…Information about physical attractiveness was collected during Wave I of the survey when all interviewers were asked to assess the physical attractiveness of respondents with answer options of (1) very unattractive, (2) unattractive, (3) about average, (4) attractive, and (5) very attractive. Previous studies, some also using Add Health, show that this method of rating individuals is a reliable measure of physical attractiveness (Gordon, Crosnoe, and Wang 2013; Kanazawa 2011; Bulczak and Gugushvili 2023). To account for the interviewers’ idiosyncratic characteristics, potentially biasing their assessment of respondents’ physical attractiveness, we include interviewers’ fixed effects in all models.…”

“…Existing scholarship across social science disciplines suggests that individuals’ physical attractiveness is significantly associated with numerous indicators of socioeconomic position (SEP) and other well‐being outcomes (Bulczak and Gugushvili 2023; Monk, Esposito, and Lee 2021; Urbatsch 2019). The key finding from these studies is that more attractive individuals are usually better educated, have better employment opportunities, and have higher incomes (Hamermesh and Biddle 1994; Mobius and Rosenblat 2006; Stockemer and Praino 2015).…”