A recent study suggests that individuals with less attractive features may have shorter lifespans. The August issue of Social Science & Medicine referenced a journal titled “Looks and Longevity: Do Prettier People Live Longer?”
Professors Connor M. Sheehan, an associate professor at Arizona State University, and Daniel Hamermesh, an economist at the University of Texas at Austin, collaborated on this research, exploring the association between physical attractiveness and lifespan.
The research team utilized the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS), a survey that tracked the lives of Wisconsin high school graduates from 1957. They assessed the attractiveness of 8,386 men and women who were available for review, measuring their attractiveness based on their yearbook photos. Ten evaluators rated the samples’ attractiveness using an 11-point scale, and the evaluators were similar in age to the samples.
The results indicated that individuals rated with less attractive points tended to have shorter lifespans. Those in the lowest attractiveness category (ranked 6) had a mortality rate 16.8% higher than those in categories 1 to 4. This difference was particularly evident among women, as the lowest category had two years less in their lifespan than the more attractive groups. For men, the difference was about one year.
Sheehan observed that this pattern might indicate women’s disproportionate social pressures concerning appearance. He emphasized, however, that possessing more attractive features does not causally affect lifespan, noting there was no significant difference in lifespan between the attractive and average groups.
Sheehan further explained that while attractive individuals often enjoy various benefits—including higher income, better academic performance, and more favorable marriage prospects—these advantages do not translate to longer lifespans. He proposed that the disadvantages of below-average attractiveness could outweigh the benefits of being more attractive in terms of lifespan.
He further emphasized that the findings highlight the change for a social structure that treats people more equitably.
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