Male preferences for female waist-to-hip ratio and body mass index in the highlands of papua New Guinea

American Journal of Physical Anthropology

Volumn 141, Issue 4, 2010, Pages 620-625

  Dixson, Barnaby J ^a   Sagata, Katayo ^b   Linklater, Wayne L ^a   Dixson, Alan F ^a  

^a VICTORIA UNIVERSITY OF WELLINGTON   (New Zealand)

^b PNG   (Papua New Guinea)

Author keywords

Female attractiveness; Human evolution; Sexual selection

Indexed keywords

ADIPOSE TISSUE; ADULT; ARTICLE; BODY MASS; ETHNICITY; HUMAN; MAJOR CLINICAL STUDY; MALE; PAPUA NEW GUINEA; PHOTOGRAPHY; POSTOPERATIVE PERIOD; SEXUAL SELECTION; WAIST HIP RATIO; WEIGHT REDUCTION; ADOLESCENT; BODY POSTURE; ESTHETICS; ETHNOLOGY; FEMALE; MIDDLE AGED; PSYCHOLOGY; SEXUAL DEVELOPMENT; YOUNG ADULT;

ADOLESCENT; ADULT; BEAUTY; BODY MASS INDEX; FEMALE; HUMANS; MALE; MEN; MIDDLE AGED; PAPUA NEW GUINEA; POSTURE; SEX CHARACTERISTICS; WAIST-HIP RATIO; YOUNG ADULT;

EID: 77950839552     PISSN: 00029483     EISSN: 10968644     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.21181     Document Type: Article

References (57)

1. Adair LS, Bisgrove EZ. 1991. Maternal anthropometry during pregnancy, pregnancy weight gain, and pregnancy outcome. In: Himes J, editor. Anthropometric assessment of nutritional status. New York: John Wiley. p 233-257.
2. Anderson WH. 2008. Early perceptions of an epidemic. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 363:3675-3678.
3. Barber N. 1995. The evolutionary psychology of physical attractiveness: sexual selection and human morphology. Ethol Sociobiol 16:395-424.
4. Boot AM, Bouquet J, de Ridder MAJ, Krenning EP, Keizer- Shrama SM. 1997. Determinants of body composition measured by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry in Dutch children and adolescents. Am J Clin Nutr 66:232-238. (Pubitemid 27360319)
5. Buss DM. 2003. The evolution of desire, 2nd ed. New York: Basic Books.
6. Cant JGH. 1981. Hypothesis for the evolution of human breasts and buttocks. Am Nat 117:199-204.
7. Carter LEJ, Heath BH. 1990. Somatotyping: development and applications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
8. Cashdan E. 2003. Hormones and competitive aggression in women. Aggress Behav 29:107-115. (Pubitemid 36408893)
9. Cashdan E. 2008. Waist-to-hip ratio across cultures: trade-offs between androgen- and estrogen-dependant traits. Curr Anthropol 49:1099-1107.
10. Clarys JP, Martin AD, Drinkwater DT. 1984. Gross tissue weights in the human body by cadaver dissection. HumBiol 56:459-473.
11. Collinge J. 2008. Lessons of kuru research: background to recent studies with some personal reflections. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 363:3689-3696.
12. Cornelissen PL, Tovée MJ, Bateson M. 2009. Patterns of subcutaneous fat deposition and the relationship between body mass index and waist-hip-ratio: implications for models of physical attractiveness. J Theor Biol 256:343-350.
13. Dabbs JM, Hargrove MF. 1997. Age, testosterone, and behavior among female prison inmates. Psychosom Med 59:477-480.
14. Dixson AF. 2009. Sexual selection and the origins of human mating systems. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
15. Dixson BJ, Dixson AF, Bishop P, Parish A. Human physique and sexual attractiveness in men and women: a New Zealand-U.S.A comparative study. Arch Sex Behav. DOI: 10.1007/s10508-008-9441-y.
16. Dixson BJ, Dixson AF, Li B, Anderson MJ. 2007a. Studies of human physique and sexual attractiveness: sexual preferences of men and women in China. Am J Hum Biol 19:88-95. (Pubitemid 46062462)
17. Dixson BJ, Dixson AF, Morgan B, Anderson MJ. 2007b. Human physique and sexual attractiveness: sexual preferences of men and women in Bakossiland, Cameroon. Arch Sex Behav 36:369-375. (Pubitemid 46872829)
18. Furnham A, Tan T, McManus C. 1997. Waist-to-hip ratio and preferences for body shape: a replication and extension. Pers Individ Dif 22:539-549. (Pubitemid 127169294)
19. Garner P, Smith T, Baea M, Lai D, Heywood DP. 1994. Maternal nutritional depletion in a rural area of Papua New Guinea. Trop Geogr Med 46:169-171. (Pubitemid 24220486)
20. Grammer K, Fink B, Møller AP, Thornhill R. 2003. Darwinian aesthetics: sexual selection and the biology of beauty. Biol Rev 78:385-407. (Pubitemid 37193392)
21. Harrison GA, Boyce AJ, Platt CM, Serjeantson S. 1975. Body composition during lactation in a New Guinea population. Ann Hum Biol 2:395-398.
22. Henss R. 2000. Waist-to-hip ratio and female attractiveness. Evidence from photographic stimuli and methodological considerations. Pers Individ Dif 28:501-513.
23. Jasieńska G, Ziomkiewicz A, Ellison PT, Lipson SF, Thune I. 2004. Large breasts and narrow waists indicate high reproductive potential in women. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 271: 1213-1217. (Pubitemid 38789312)
24. Kirschner MA, Samojlik E. 1991. Sex hormone metabolism in upper and lower body obesity. Int J Obes 15:101-108.
25. Lassek WD, Gaulin SJC. 2006. Changes in body fat distribution in relation to parity in American women: a covert form of maternal depletion. Am J Phys Anthropol 131:295-302.
26. Lassek WD, Gaulin SJC. 2007. Menarche is related to fat distribution. Am J Phys Anthropol 133:1147-1151.
27. Lipson SF, Ellison PT. 1996. Comparison of salivary steroid profiles in naturally occurring conception and non-conception cycles. Hum Reprod 11:2090-2096.
28. Manica A, Amos W, Balloux F, Hanihara T. 2007. The effects of ancient bottlenecks on human phenotypic variation. Nature 448:346-348. (Pubitemid 47080340)
29. Marlowe F, Apicella CL, Reed D. 2005. Men's preferences for women's profile waist-to-hip ratio in two societies. Evol Hum Behav 25:371-378. (Pubitemid 41554800)
30. Marti B, Tuomilehto J, Salomaa V, Kartovaara L, Korhonen HJ, Pietinen P. 1991. Body fat distribution in the Finish population: environmental determinants and predictive power for cardiovascular risk factor levels. J Epidemiol Community Health 45:131-137.
31. Merzenich H, Boeing H, Wahrendorf J. 1993. Dietary fat and sports activity as determinants for age of menarche. Am J Epidemiol 138:217-224. (Pubitemid 23263592)
32. Moran C, Hernandez E, Ruiz IE, Fonseca ME, Bermudez JA, Zarate A. 1999. Upper body obesity and hyperinsulinemia are associated with anovulation. Gynecol Obstet Invest 47:1-5. (Pubitemid 29026886)
33. Pawlowski B. 2001. The evolution of gluteal/femoral fat deposits and balance during pregnancy in bipedal Homo. Curr Anthropol 42:572-574. (Pubitemid 33776440)
34. Pawlowski B, Dunbar RIM. 2005. Waist-to-hip ratio versus body mass index as predictors of fitness in women. Hum Nat 16:164-177. (Pubitemid 41305203)
35. Pawlowski B, Grabarczyk M. 2003. Center of body mass and the evolution of female body shape. Am J Hum Biol 15:144-150. (Pubitemid 36335911)
36. Rebuffe-Scrive M. 1987. Regional adipose tissue metabolism in women during and after reproductive life and in men. Recent Adv Obes Res 5:82-91. (Pubitemid 17138411)
37. Roberts R, Weinfeld A, Nguyen K. 2005. "Universal" and ethnic ideals of beautiful buttocks and how to create them surgically. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, New Orleans, LA, April 30, 2005.
38. Rozmus-Wrzesinska M, Pawlowski B. 2005. Men's ratings of female attractiveness are influenced more by changes in female waist size compared with changes in hip size. Biol Psychol 68:299-308. (Pubitemid 40023361)
39. Singh D. 1993. Adaptive significance of female attractiveness: role of waist-to-hip ratio. J Pers Soc Psychol 65:293-307.
40. Singh D. 2006. The universal allure of the hour glass figure: an evolutionary theory of female sexual attractiveness. Clin Plast Surg 33:359-370. (Pubitemid 43963140)
41. Singh D, Dixson BJ, Jessop TS, Morgan B, Dixson AF. Crosscultural consensus for waist-to-hip ratio and women's attractiveness. Evol Hum Behav, in press.
42. Singh D, Randall PK. 2007. Beauty is in the eye of the plastic surgeon: waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and women's attractiveness. Pers Individ Dif 43:329-340.
43. Sugiyama LS. 2004. Is beauty in the context-sensitive adaptations of the beholdeř Shiwiar use of waist-to-hip ratio in assessments of female mate value. Evol Hum Behav 25:51-62.
44. Swami V, Caprario C, Tovée MJ, Furnham A. 2006. Female physical attractiveness in Britain and Japan: a cross-cultural study. Eur J Pers 20:69-81. (Pubitemid 43384900)
45. Swami V, Tovée MJ. 2005. Female physical attractiveness in Britain and Malaysia: a cross-cultural study. Body Image 2:115-128. (Pubitemid 40792381)
46. Symons D. 1995. Beauty is in the adaptations of the beholder: the evolutionary psychology of human female sexual attractiveness. In: Abramson PR, Pinkerton SD, editors. Sexual nature, sexual culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p 80-118.
47. Thornhill R, Gangestad SW. 1996. The evolution of human sexuality. Trends Ecol Evol 11:98-102. (Pubitemid 126398288)
48. Tovée MJ, Cornelissen PL. 2001. Female and male perceptions of female physical attractiveness in front-view and profile. Br J Psychol 92:391-402.
49. Tovée MJ, Maisey DS, Emery JL, Cornelissen PL. 1999. Visual cues to female physical attractiveness. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 266:211-218.
50. Tovée MJ, Swami V, Furnham A, Mangalparsad R. 2006. Changing perceptions of attractiveness as observers are exposed to a different culture. Evol Hum Behav 27:443-456. (Pubitemid 44567494)
51. Tracer DP. 1991. Fertility-related changes in maternal body composition among the Au of Papua New Guinea. Am J Phys Anthropol 85:393-405.
52. Van Anders SM, Hampson E. 2005. Waist-to-hip ratio is positively associated with bioavailable testosterone but negatively associated with sexual desire in healthy pre-menopausal women. Psychosom Med 67:246-250. (Pubitemid 40410960)
53. Van Hooff MHA, Voorhorst FJ, Kaptein MB, Hirasing RA, Koppenaal C, Schoemaker J. 2000. Insulin, androgen, and gonadotropin concentrations, body mass index, and waist-to-hip ratio in the first years after menarche in girls with regular menstrual cycles, irregular menstrual cycles, or oligomenorrhea. J Clin Endocr Metab 85:1394-1400. (Pubitemid 32289479)
54. Wass P, Waldenstrom U, Rossner S, Hellberg D. 1997. An android body fat distribution in females impairs pregnancy rate of in-vitro fertilization-embryo transfer. Hum Reprod 12:2057-2060. (Pubitemid 27462492)
55. Wetsman A, Marlowe F. 1999. How universal are preferences for female waist to-hip ratioš Evidence from the Hadza from Tanzania. Evol Hum Behav 20:219-228. (Pubitemid 129516492)
56. Yu DW, Shepard GH. 1998. Is beauty in the eye of the beholder? Nature 396:321-322.
57. Zaadstra BM, Seidell J, Van Noord PA, te Velde ER, Habbema JD, Vrieswijk B, Karbaat J. 1993. Fat and female fecundity: prospective study of body fat distribution in conception rates. Br Med J 306:484-487. (Pubitemid 23053156)