A new study from the US suggests that high school students perceived as less attractive might face a higher risk of shorter lifespans. Researchers analyzed data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, which followed thousands of high school graduates from the late 1950s to see if attractiveness could be linked to mortality risk.
The study involved 8,386 high school graduates from 1957. An independent panel of six male and six female judges ranked the students’ yearbook photos based on attractiveness. The researchers then divided these individuals into six categories, from most to least attractive. These rankings were compared with mortality data up to 2022, sourced from the National Death Index.
Key Findings
The study found that individuals in the bottom sixth for attractiveness had a 16.8% higher mortality risk than those in the middle four sextiles. However, the difference in mortality rates between the middle group and the most attractive individuals was not significant. The study indicates that while being less attractive might correlate with a higher risk of early death, being highly attractive doesn’t necessarily confer a significant longevity advantage.
Factors such as education and earnings, when accounted for, slightly reduced the significance of these findings. Health emerged as the most influential variable, suggesting that poor health could contribute to both lower attractiveness and higher mortality.
Limitations and Future Research
The study’s data is limited to one geographical area and doesn’t establish a direct cause-and-effect relationship. Researchers Connor Sheehan and Daniel Hamermesh acknowledge that the reasons behind the association remain unclear and advocate for further research into the connections between health, disease, and outward signs of attractiveness.
While the study does not provide definitive answers, it opens up new avenues for understanding how attractiveness and health are intertwined. The findings, published in Social Science & Medicine, highlight the need for more comprehensive research into the social and health-related processes influenced by attractiveness over a lifetime.
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