No compelling evidence that more physically attractive young adult women have higher estradiol or progesterone

Benedict C. Jones*, Amanda C. Hahn, Claire I. Fisher, Hongyi Wang, Michal Kandrik, Junpeng Lao, Chengyang Han, Anthony J. Lee, Iris J. Holzleitner, Lisa M. DeBruine

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Putative associations between sex hormones and attractive physical characteristics in women are central to many theories of human physical attractiveness and mate choice. Although such theories have become very influential, evidence that physically attractive and unattractive women have different hormonal profiles is equivocal. Consequently, we investigated hypothesized relationships between salivary estradiol and progesterone and two aspects of women's physical attractiveness that are commonly assumed to be correlated with levels of these hormones: facial attractiveness (N = 249) and waist-to-hip ratio (N = 247). Our analyses revealed no compelling evidence that women with more attractive faces or lower (i.e., more attractive) waist-to-hip ratios had higher levels of estradiol or progesterone. One analysis did suggest that women with more attractive waist-to-hip ratios had significantly higher progesterone, but the relationship was weak and the relationship not significant in other analyses. These results do not support the influential hypothesis that between-women differences in physical attractiveness are related to estradiol and/or progesterone.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-5
Number of pages5
JournalPsychoneuroendocrinology
Volume98
Early online date26 Jul 2018
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2018

Funding

This research was supported by ERC grants awarded to BCJ (OCMATE) and LMD (KINSHIP).

FundersFunder number
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme647910
European Research Council

    Keywords

    • Attractiveness
    • Estradiol
    • Faces
    • Menstrual cycle
    • Progesterone
    • Steroid hormones
    • WHR

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