Researchers from the Universities of Arizona and Texas in the United States have discovered a connection between the attractiveness of individuals in their youth and their expected lifespan. The journal Social Science & Medicine indicates that "the researchers aimed to understand how a person's physical beauty relates to their health, alongside other factors such as income, social status, and education level."
It is known that high physical attractiveness can positively influence social stratification processes, such as securing jobs, obtaining higher income, and forming beneficial social connections. These social benefits can lead to a better quality of life, revealing the significant role that the general perception of beauty plays in overall health and longevity.
The new study involved analyzing data from 8,386 high school graduates from 1957 who allowed their health data to be shared for 30 years in a research project known as the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLI). The researchers utilized yearbook photos to assess the attractiveness of the samples according to a specific scale and then compared the results with other information about the study participants.
The models allowed the researchers to consider various contributing factors, such as high school performance, intelligence, social status, adult income, and mental and physical health in middle age. The results showed that individuals rated as less attractive had a significantly higher risk of death compared to those with average attractiveness. Moreover, those at the bottom of the attractiveness ranking lived, on average, 16.8 percent less than those in the middle and higher ranks.
According to the researchers, further detailed studies are essential to assess the health risks faced by less attractive individuals.
