TY - JOUR
T1 - A longitudinal study of adolescents’ judgments of the attractiveness of facial symmetry, averageness and sexual dimorphism
AU - Saxton, Tamsin
AU - DeBruine, Lisa
AU - Jones, Benedict
AU - Little, Anthony
AU - Roberts, S. Craig
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - Adolescents have been found to differ by age in their attraction to facial symmetry, averageness, and sexual dimorphism. However, it has not been demonstrated that attraction to these facial characters changes over time as a consequence of age-linked development. We aimed to extend previous cross-sectional findings by examining whether facial attractiveness judgments change over time during adolescence as a consequence of increasing age, in a within-subjects study of two cohorts of adolescents aged 11–16. Consistent with previous findings, we find that adolescents (often particularly females) judged faces with increased averageness, symmetry and femininity to be more attractive than original, asymmetric and masculine faces, respectively. However, we do not find longitudinal changes in face preference judgments across the course of a year, leading us to question the extent to which some of the previously reported differences in facial attractiveness judgments between younger and older adolescents were due to age-linked changes.
AB - Adolescents have been found to differ by age in their attraction to facial symmetry, averageness, and sexual dimorphism. However, it has not been demonstrated that attraction to these facial characters changes over time as a consequence of age-linked development. We aimed to extend previous cross-sectional findings by examining whether facial attractiveness judgments change over time during adolescence as a consequence of increasing age, in a within-subjects study of two cohorts of adolescents aged 11–16. Consistent with previous findings, we find that adolescents (often particularly females) judged faces with increased averageness, symmetry and femininity to be more attractive than original, asymmetric and masculine faces, respectively. However, we do not find longitudinal changes in face preference judgments across the course of a year, leading us to question the extent to which some of the previously reported differences in facial attractiveness judgments between younger and older adolescents were due to age-linked changes.
KW - adolescence
KW - face attractiveness judgments
KW - facial averageness
KW - facial sexual dimorphism
KW - facial symmetry
U2 - 10.1556/JEP.9.2011.22.1
DO - 10.1556/JEP.9.2011.22.1
M3 - Article
SN - 1789-2082
VL - 9
SP - 43
EP - 55
JO - Journal of Evolutionary Psychology
JF - Journal of Evolutionary Psychology
IS - 1
ER -