ArticleScientific reports2019
Women's preferences for men's facial masculinity are strongest under favorable ecological conditions.
Article in Scientific reports, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 40 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
40 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- A meta-analysis of the association between male dimorphism and fitness outcomes in humans.eLife · 2022Pooled it
- Women's Preferences for Strong Men Under Perceived Harsh Versus Safe Ecological Conditions.Evolutionary psychology : an international journal of evolutionary approaches to psychology and behaviorTrial
- Perceived Waist-to-Hip Ratio Predicts Attractiveness, Age, and Parity Judgments in Pre-Contemporary European Portraits of Clothed Women.Archives of sexual behavior · 2026Article
- Self-reported social media use does not affect cross-cultural consensus in first impressions.Evolutionary human sciences · 2026Article
- Violence exposure is associated with preference for masculine faces: evidence from Senegal.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Mate assessment based on physical characteristics: a review and reflection.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2025Review
- Time perception of attractive male faces and voices: The role of women's menstrual cycle.PloS one · 2025Article
- Sexual Dimorphism: The Interrelation of Shape and Color.Archives of sexual behavior · 2024Article
- Cross-cultural perception of strength, attractiveness, aggressiveness and helpfulness of Maasai male faces calibrated to handgrip strength.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Eyelash length attractiveness across ethnicities.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Men's Facial Hair Preferences Reflect Facial Hair Impression Management Functions Across Contexts and Men Know It.Archives of sexual behavior · 2023Article
- No evidence that sociosexual orientation moderates effects of conception probability on women's preferences for male facial masculinity.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Preference for Male Risk Takers Varies with Relationship Context and Health Status but not COVID Risk.Evolutionary psychological science · 2023Article
- Article
- Examining the Prospective Bidirectional Associations between Subjective and Objective Attractiveness and Adolescent Internalizing Symptoms and Life Satisfaction.Journal of youth and adolescence · 2023Article
- The role of hormones in attraction and visual attention to facial masculinity.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Delicate dining with a date and burger binging with buddies: impression management across social settings and consumers' preferences for masculine or feminine foods.Frontiers in nutrition · 2023Article
- Article
- Is there no beauty in sexually dimorphic eyes? Facial attractiveness and White Europeans ocular morphology-Brief communication.PloS one · 2023Article
- Reliability and Validity of the Colombian Version of the Revised Sociosexual Orientation Inventory.Archives of sexual behavior · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
19 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
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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Registered trials
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