Women's preferences for men's facial masculinity are strongest under favorable ecological conditions

Urszula M Marcinkowska; Markus J Rantala; Anthony J Lee; Mikhail V Kozlov; Toivo Aavik; H Cai; Jorge Contreras-Garduno; Oana A David; Gwenael Kaminski; Norman P Li; Ike E Onyishi; Keshav Prasai; Farid Pazhoohi; Pavol Prokop; Sandra L. Rosales Cardozo; Nicolle Sydney; Hirokazu Taniguchi; Indrikis Krams; Barnaby J W Dixson

doi:10.1038/s41598-019-39350-8

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Women's preferences for men's facial masculinity are strongest under favorable ecological conditions

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Women's preferences for men's facial masculinity are strongest under favorable ecological conditions

Urszula M Marcinkowska, Markus J Rantala, Anthony J Lee, Mikhail V Kozlov, Toivo Aavik, H Cai, Jorge Contreras-Garduno, Oana A David, Gwenael Kaminski, Norman P Li, …

Scientific Reports, Vol.9, pp.1-10

2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-39350-8

PMCID: PMC6399235

PMID: 30833635

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Abstract

women's preferences

heterosexual

economic conditions

cross-cultural evidence

sociosexuality

The strength of sexual selection on secondary sexual traits varies depending on prevailing economic and ecological conditions. In humans, cross-cultural evidence suggests women's preferences for men's testosterone dependent masculine facial traits are stronger under conditions where health is compromised, male mortality rates are higher and economic development is higher. Here we use a sample of 4483 exclusively heterosexual women from 34 countries and employ mixed effects modelling to test how social, ecological and economic variables predict women's facial masculinity preferences. We report women's preferences for more masculine looking men are stronger in countries with higher sociosexuality and where national health indices and human development indices are higher, while no associations were found between preferences and indices of intra-sexual competition. Our results show that women's preferences for masculine faces are stronger under conditions where offspring survival is higher and economic conditions are more favorable.

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Title: Women's preferences for men's facial masculinity are strongest under favorable ecological conditions
Authors: Urszula M Marcinkowska (Author) - University of Turku
Markus J Rantala (Author) - University of Turku
Anthony J Lee (Author) - University of Stirling
Mikhail V Kozlov (Author) - University of Turku
Toivo Aavik (Author) - University of Tartu
H Cai (Author) - Chinese Academy of Sciences
Jorge Contreras-Garduno (Author) - Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Oana A David (Author) - Babeș-Bolyai University
Gwenael Kaminski (Author) - Institut Universitaire de France
Norman P Li (Author) - Singapore Management University
Ike E Onyishi (Author) - University of Nigeria, Nsukka
Keshav Prasai (Author)
Farid Pazhoohi (Author) - University of Minho
Pavol Prokop (Author) - University of Trnava
Sandra L. Rosales Cardozo (Author) - Universidad de Ibagué
Nicolle Sydney (Author) - Universidade Federal do Paraná
Hirokazu Taniguchi (Author) - Nagasaki University
Indrikis Krams (Author) - University of Tartu
Barnaby J W Dixson (Author) - The University of Queensland
Publication details: Scientific Reports, Vol.9, pp.1-10
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
Date published: 2019
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-39350-8
ISSN: 2045-2322
PMID: 30833635; PMC6399235
Copyright note: © The Author(s) 2019. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Organisation Unit: Australian Centre for Pacific Islands Research; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Health - Psychology; School of Health and Behavioural Sciences - Legacy
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99629739802621
Output Type: Journal article

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Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration; International collaboration
Web Of Science research areas: Behavioral Sciences