SynthesiseLife2022
A meta-analysis of the association between male dimorphism and fitness outcomes in humans.
Synthesis in eLife, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 53 citations in OpenAlex.
- Does the Extreme Male Brain Hypothesis of Autism Apply More to Females Than Males? A Systematic and Meta-Analytic Approach.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2026Pooled it
- I tweet, therefore I am: a systematic review on social media use and disorders of the social brain.BMC psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Self-reported aggressiveness does not follow facial masculinization in diverse South Asian populations.PNAS nexus · 2026Article
- Homo sapiens, industrialisation and the environmental mismatch hypothesis.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2026Review
- Does Regional Muscle Distribution Predict Functional Capacity? Sex-Specific Insights from Bioimpedance and Performance Testing.Muscles (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Androgen receptor gene polymorphism and biological age markers in men.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Perceiving intimidation through kinematic cues in men's gait.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Relationship between Height Preferences and Endorsement of Gender Norms.Human nature (Hawthorne, N.Y.) · 2025Article
- Physical Strength Is Not Associated With Facial Sexual Dimorphism and Asymmetry in Either Czechs or Cameroonians.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2025Article
- 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
- Longitudinal evidence linking childhood energetics, maturation, skeletal muscle mass and adult human male sociosexuality.Royal Society open science · 2025Article
- Is the human face a biomarker of health? - A scoping review.PloS one · 2025Article
- A systematic review of the association between women's morphological traits and fertility.Evolutionary human sciences · 2025Article
- Time perception of attractive male faces and voices: The role of women's menstrual cycle.PloS one · 2025Article
- Men display faster in male-biased mating contexts.Biology letters · 2024Article
- Inter-sexual Mate Competition in Humans: A Historical Example from Seventeenth Century Portugal.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
- Genomic regions and biological pathways associated with sex-limited reproductive traits in bovine species.Journal of animal science · 2024Article
- Greater male variability in daily energy expenditure develops through puberty.Biology letters · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Humans are sexually dimorphic: men and women differ in body build and composition, craniofacial structure, and voice pitch, likely mediated in part by developmental testosterone. Sexual selection hypotheses posit that, ancestrally, more 'masculine' men may have acquired more mates and/or sired more viable offspring. Thus far, however, evidence for either association is unclear. Here, we meta-analyze the relationships between six masculine traits and mating/reproductive outcomes (96 studies, 474 effects, N = 177,044). Voice pitch, height, and testosterone all predicted mating; however, strength/muscularity was the strongest and only consistent predictor of both mating and reproduction. Facial masculinity and digit ratios did not significantly predict either. There was no clear evidence for any effects of masculinity on offspring viability. Our findings support arguments that strength/muscularity may be sexually selected in humans, but cast doubt regarding selection for other forms of masculinity and highlight the need to increase tests of evolutionary hypotheses outside of industrialized populations.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.