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Preferences for Female Body Weight and Shape in Three European Countries Viren Swami1, Felix Neto2, Martin J. Tovée3, and Adrian Furnham4 1

Division of Public Health, University of Liverpool, UK, 2Faculdade de Psicologia, Universidade de Porto, Portugal, 3Department of Psychology, Newcastle University, UK, 4 Department of Psychology, University College London, UK Abstract. Body mass index (BMI) and body shape as measured by the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) are important components in judgments of women’s bodily attractiveness. The relative importance of each of these cues was examined in three countries: Britain, Spain, and Portugal. Male participants from Britain, Spain, and Portugal, respectively, were asked to rate a set of images of real women with known BMI and WHR. The results showed that, regardless of the cultural setting, BMI was the primary determinant of women’s physical attractiveness, with consistent preferences for relatively slender women. WHR emerged as a significant predictor of attractiveness judgments for the Spanish and Portuguese groups (with preferences for low WHRs, indicative of a curvaceous female body), but not the British group. These findings are discussed in terms of the different cultural values ascribed to participants in the three countries. Keywords: physical attractiveness, body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, curvaceousness

Increasing attention is being given to studies of physical attraction in the hope of identifying contributing factors to eating disorders and body image disturbance (Altabe, 1998; Brewis, McGarvey, Jones, & Swinburn, 1998; Greenberg & LaPorte, 1996; Thompson, Sargent, & Kemper, 1996). Many studies suggest that a slender female body is viewed as attractive in most socioeconomically developed settings. For example, the body weight of fashion models is substantially lower than that of normal women (Tovée, Mason, Emery, McCluskey, & Cohen-Tovée, 1997), while research on Miss America pageant winners and Playboy centerfolds has shown that the ideal has become increasingly thinner since the late 1950s (e.g., Garner, Garfinkel, Schwartz, & Thompson, 1980; Freese & Meland, 2002). While these studies suggest that overall body mass should be of primary importance in male judgments about female bodily attractiveness, some studies have highlighted body fat distribution as being of particular importance. Specifically, Singh (1993) argued that body shape, as measured by the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), is a better predictor of female attractiveness judgments than overall body weight. Several studies have marshalled evidence in support of the role of WHR in judgments of physical attractiveness (e.g., Furnham, Tan, & McManus, 1997; Henss, 1995; Singh, 1993, 2002; Streeter & McBurney, 2003). These studies have investigated WHR preferences by asking their subjects to rank line drawings of women, which vary in terms of body shape and weight classes. Across all European Psychologist 2007; Vol. 12(3):220–228 DOI 10.1027/1016-9040.12.3.220

weight classes, low WHR (typically 0.70) appears to be the most preferred. Studies using modified photographic stimuli have also found comparable evidence (e.g., Henss, 2000). While some psychologists have argued that preferences for a low WHR are universally valid and robust (e.g., Campbell, 2002), other researchers have raised serious concerns. Tovée and colleagues (1998, 1999, 2002) have argued that this result may be an artifact of the experimental design: The line drawings and photographic stimuli used in previous studies varied WHR within each weight category by altering the width of the torso. This not only changes the WHR of the stimuli but also the body mass index (BMI), a measure of body weight. Previous stimuli, therefore, confound WHR differences with changes in BMI and so the apparent preference for low WHRs could simply be a preference for a slim body physique. When researchers have investigated the relative importance of these two variables using photographs of real women (e.g., Puhl & Boland, 2001; Tovée et al., 1998, 1999, 2002; Tovée & Cornelissen, 2001) and threedimensional images (Fan, Liu, Wu, & Dai, 2004), variation in BMI appears to be a better predictor of female attractiveness than WHR. These effects cannot simply be explained by the stimuli not adequately capturing shape cues: When pictures of men are used in the same format, rated by male and female observers in the same experimental protocol, attractiveness is typically determined by shape cues rather than BMI (Fan et al., 2005; Maisey et © 2007 Hogrefe & Huber Publishers

V. Swami et al.: Body Weight and Shape

al., 1999; Swami & Tovée, 2005a), thus, demonstrating that shape cues are salient in this format. Researchers have also raised questions about the ecological validity of previous WHR studies (e.g., Tassinary & Hansen, 1998), while others have suggested that WHR preferences are far from culturally invariant. Yu and Shepard (1998) found that Matsigenka men in an isolated area of Peru prefer the ’overweight’ figures above all else; within weight classes, they preferred figures with the highest rather than lowest WHR. Similar results have been reported among the Hadza of Tanzania (Marlowe & Wetsman, 2001; Wetsman & Marlowe, 1999; but see Sugiyama, 2004). Additionally, when researchers have examined physical attractiveness preferences across cultures using photographic stimuli, they have demonstrated that BMI rather than WHR is the primary cue of female attractiveness (Swami & Tovée, 2005b; Swami & Tovée, 2007; Swami, Caprario, Tovée, & Furnham, 2006; Tovée, Swami, Furnham & Mangalparsad, 2006). While these studies may appear to come down on the side of BMI as the dominant cue of female bodily attractiveness, the issue is far from clear-cut. In the absence of variation in body weight, WHR is a significant cue of female physical attractiveness (Streeter & McBurney, 2003). While evolutionary psychologists have utilized this evidence in support of an innate male preference for low WHRs, others have pointed to the role that cultural effects may play in determining the attractiveness of a curvaceously thin (as opposed to the “super-waif”) female body (e.g., Harrison, 2003). However, there has been a dearth of studies examining whether, and how, cultural effects define what is considered an attractive female body. In the present study, therefore, we sought to examine preferences for female body weight and shape in three European countries (Spain, Portugal, and Britain), thereby extending previous research (e.g., Swami & Tovée, 2005b, 2007; Tovée et al., 1998, 1999, 2002, 2006). While a great deal of evidence would suggest that a slender body weight would be considered attractive in Britain (Tovée et al., 1998, 1999, 2002), relatively little research has examined the attractiveness preferences of Spanish and Portuguese men. Nevertheless, Spain and Portugal are interesting case examples in which to investigate attractiveness preferences for a number of reasons (cf. Raich et al., 1992). There is evidence to suggest that perceptions of body weight and shape may be different in some Mediterranean countries when compared with northern European or North American countries (Wardle, Haase, & Steptoe, 2006). For example, two recent studies have shown that Greek men and women show a stronger preference for masculine or feminine somatypes (greater male upper-body muscularity and female curvaceousness) than participants in Britain (Swami, Antonakopoulos, Tovée, & Furnham, 2006; Swami, Smith et al., 2007). It has been argued that local cultural and historical factors may moderate attitudes about body shape, but Mediterranean cultures may also benefit from a more relaxed relationship with eating and weight (Beer© 2007 Hogrefe & Huber Publishers

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Borst et al., 2000) as well as the effects of local diet (Trichopolou, Costacou, Bamia, & Trichopoulos, 2003). For example, it is generally believed that Southern Europeans (the region encompassing Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, and southern France) have lower incidences of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes when compared with Northern Europeans (including Britain) as a result of differential diets (Goyan Kittler & Sucher, 2001; Wardlaw, 1999). There is evidence, however, that with the greater availability of nontraditional foods in Southern Europe, rates of obesity in countries like Spain and Portugal is rapidly approaching rates in other Western European countries (e.g., Kyprianou, 2006). This has occurred in combination with more stringent societal standards for thinness in Spain and Portugal. For example, Toro, Cervera, and Perez (cited in Toro, Salamero, & Martinez, 1994) found that, over the course of 3 years, one quarter of advertisements encouraged weight loss in women. These contrasting lines of thought make Spain and Portugal interesting sites for the study of physical attractiveness preferences. To our knowledge, however, this is the first study to specifically explore preferences for female body shape and weight in Spain and Portugal using biologically valid stimuli. Gleaves et al. (2000) examined body image preferences in Spain and the United States, and found that attitudes about body image were similar in both settings. However, their use of silhouettes of the human figure ranging from very thin to very large makes it difficult to determine the relative importance of body weight and shape cues, which may differ between cultures. Other previous comparative studies have focused on eating attitudes, interest in weight reduction, and dissatisfaction with body parts as opposed to physical attractiveness judgments (e.g., Raich, Torras, & Figueroa, 1996; Raich et al., 1992). By using photographic images of real women with known BMI and WHR, we were able to make direct comparisons of both cues in determining female physical attractiveness in the three societies we examined. Following previous studies (e.g., Swami et al., 2006, 2007), we hypothesized that, although BMI would be the dominant predictor of physical attractiveness in all three settings, the WHR would be less important in Britain than in Spain or Portugal.

Methods Participants The participants in this study were recruited from three countries: Britain, a northern European country extensively studied in the literature, and Spain and Portugal, two Mediterranean countries relatively under-researched in terms of physical attractiveness preferences. The British participants consisted of a sample of 50 Caucasian male university undergraduates from London (age M = 24.66, SD = European Psychologist 2007; Vol. 12(3):220–228

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6.10). All participants were approached by the authors and invited to take part in the study. The Spanish group consisted of 28 male participants from Barcelona (age M = 24.54, SD = 4.89), whereas the Portuguese sample was made up of 32 male participants from Porto (age M = 20.75; SD = 3.66). The latter two samples were recruited opportunistically by the experimenters to reflect a general population sample. That is, they were approached in relatively affluent public areas (typically the university quarters of the two cities) to participate in the study. Only participants who self-reported to be heterosexual were invited to take part in the study. Although socioeconomic information was not collected about participants, we are fairly confident that the socioeconomic backgrounds of participants in all three sites are relatively homogeneous. That is, the participants were relatively young and had access to most modern amenities found in the developed world. The Portuguese group is slightly younger than the British and Spanish groups F(2, 109) = 6.29, p < .05. Although a study of British observers has shown that age appears to have no significant impact on the attractiveness judgments of observers (George, Cornelissen, Tovée, Swami, & Passi, 2006), it is possible that the lower age of Portuguese participants had an effect on their preferences (see Discussion).

ethnicity, weight, and height). Other pages in the booklet provided a 9-point Likert scale, which appeared below the question “How physically attractive is the person in the photograph?” and on which participants were asked to record their ratings.

Materials

Results

Participants in each group were asked to rate grayscale images of 50 real women in front view. These images were designed and used previously, and here we present only an outline of their development (see Tovée et al., 2002 for details and an example of the stimuli used). To generate the images, consenting women were videotaped standing in a set pose at a standard distance, wearing tight grey leotards and leggings. Images were then derived from the videos. The heads of the women in the images were obscured so that they could not be identified and so that facial attractiveness would not be a factor in participant’s ratings. Ten images of women were drawn from each of the five BMI categories (Bray, 1998): emaciated (below 15 kg/m²), underweight (15–18.5 kg/m²), average (18.5–24.9 kg/m²), overweight (25.0–29.9 kg/m²), and obese (over 30kg/m²). The range of BMI values was 11.6 to 41.2. The women in our study varied in WHR from 0.68 and 0.98; the ranges of BMI and WHR values represented the widest range that was available. The images of women were printed on sheets of paper measuring 210 × 297 mm (DIN A4), so that each image covered the entire page. This was done to ensure that all images appeared within the same border and so that the stimulus women’s height would not be a factor in participants’ judgments. Participants were presented with a booklet to record their ratings; the first page consisted of brief instructions and an example of a rating, and the final page requested participants’ demographic details (age, gender, European Psychologist 2007; Vol. 12(3):220–228

Procedure All participants were tested individually, and the only difference in procedure between the different settings was the language used. The questionnaire was in English for the British group, and it was translated into Spanish and Portuguese for the Spanish and Portuguese samples, respectively. Within the image set, individual images were presented in a randomized order, and participants were presented with the entire set twice. This was done to make participants aware of the range of variability of body features represented in the images and to encourage participants to use the whole set of attractiveness ratings from 1 (least attractive) to 9 (most attractive). Participants were only asked to rate the images according to the leading question on the second run through. The entire procedure took approximately 40 min to complete.

Intraclass Reliabilities This study was concerned with the predictive power of BMI and WHR on the attractiveness of individual images, and the relevant unit of analysis is the mean attractiveness rating for each image. However, before pooling the raw data for each image, we checked whether observers in each group were rating the images in the same way by using an intraclass reliability measure on each group. Using the Shrout-Fleiss intraclass reliability for k means, we found a high degree of agreement in all the observer groups (Shrout & Fleiss, 1979): for the British observers it was 0.99, for the Spanish observers it was 0.95, and for the Portuguese observers it was 0.96. This is consistent with previous findings (e.g., Swami & Tovée, 2005b; Tovée & Cornelissen, 2001; Tovée et al., 2002).

Multiple Regression Results A multiple polynomial regression was used to estimate the variance in attractiveness ratings explained by BMI and WHR. Following previous studies (e.g., Swami & Tovée, 2005b; Tovée et al., 2002), we included second- and thirdorder terms for BMI in the multiple regression model. Previous data sets have shown that such an approach balances the amount of variance accounted for with the simplest pos© 2007 Hogrefe & Huber Publishers


sible regression model. The same model, which was run separately for the three samples, was:

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where y is the attractiveness rating, a is the intercept, x1 is the WHR, x2 is the BMI, x3 is the BMI2, x4 is the BMI3, and e is random error.

Figure 1 shows plots of attractiveness ratings as a function of BMI for all three groups, and all sets were significantly explained by BMI (p < .001). Figure 2 shows the corresponding relationship between attractiveness and WHR, with the Spanish and Portuguese sets being significantly explained by WHR (p < .05). By contrast, there was no significant effect of WHR for the British group (p >

Figure 1. Plots of attractiveness as functions of BMI. The points represent the 50 attractiveness judgments made by participants. Regression lines (solid lines) and their 95% confidence levels (dotted lines) are superimposed.

Figure 2. Plots of attractiveness as functions of WHR. The points represent the 50 attractiveness judgments made by participants. Regression lines (solid lines) and their 95% confidence levels (dotted lines) are superimposed.

y = a + b1x1 + b2x2 + b3x3 + b4x4 + e

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Table 1. Total variance explained by BMI and WHR, peak attractiveness, and WHR gradients Group

Explanatory variable

Britain

BMI

3.67

BMI2 BMI Spain

3

BMI

3.70

BMI

% Variance

Peak attractiveness

< .001

73.3

20.97

> .05

7.1 76.3

0.001 –1.92

< .001

18.3

BMI

3.82

< .05

75.3

BMI2

–0.15

WHR

–6.34 20.11

–0.13

WHR

BMI3

WHR gradient

0.001 –1.09

3

p

–0.14

WHR BMI2

Portugal

Regression coefficient

–11.18 19.51

0.002 –2.04

18.7

–11.37

.05). This suggests that that the WHR does have an effect on attractiveness ratings for Spanish and Portuguese participants, but not for Britons. The total variance explained by the regression model for the relationship between BMI and attractiveness ratings (between 73.3 and 76.3%) is presented in Table 1, and is dramatically different from the effect sizes for the relationship between WHR and attractiveness ratings (between 7.1 and 18.7%). These results indicate that BMI, which accounts for some five times more variance than WHR, is the more important predictor of ratings. However, the high variance explained by WHR for the Spanish and Portuguese groups supports our hypothesis that a curvaceous body may be more important in these societies.

The multiple regression also suggests that the importance of WHR in attractiveness judgments differs between groups. Attractiveness and WHR was significantly correlated in the Spanish (r = –0.43, p < .05) and Portuguese (r = –0.43, p < .05) groups, but not in the British group (r = –0.27, p > .05). The gradient of this relationship for the British was –6.34, for the Spanish it was –11.18, and for the Portuguese it was –11.37. These suggest a much steeper gradient in the Spanish and Portuguese observer groups. A dummy regression (Tukey, 1977) showed that there was a significant difference between the gradients for the British and two non-British groups (p < .05), but not between the Spanish and Portuguese groups.

Between-Group Differences

Discussion

Although the shape of the BMI functions is very similar across groups, it is possible the function may have been shifted for one or more groups (that is, the peak or “ideal” BMI value may differ between the groups tested). To explore this possibility, third-order polynomials for BMI were fitted to the ratings made by all participants for each group, allowing peak BMI to be calculated for each participant. The peak BMI for the British participants was 20.97, for the Spanish participants it was 20.11, and for the Portuguese participants it was 19.51 (see Table 1). There were overall significant differences between the ratings made by participants from the different groups, F(2, 109) = 11.70, p < .05. To see where these differences lay, a post hoc Tukey HSD was carried out on the data. The results showed that the Portuguese participants had a significantly different peak for attractiveness from Britons and Spaniards, who were not significantly different each other. Nevertheless, it is important to bear in mind that these differences are relatively small, with participants in all three groups showing a preference for female bodies at the lower end of the normal BMI range.

The results of this study are consistent with the hypothesis that the importance of the WHR to judgments of female physical attractiveness may differ between societies. Although BMI was the primary cue of attractiveness in all three settings, the relationship between the WHR and attractiveness ratings varied between the three countries in this study: the relationship was significant for the Spanish and Portuguese samples, but not for the British group. In addition, the variance explained by WHR for the Spanish and Portuguese groups was noticeably higher than that for the British group. This was combined with a stronger preference for a more curvaceous body shape in the two nonBritish settings. In general, this set of findings is consistent with previous findings among Greeks and British-Greeks (Swami, Antonakopoulos et al., 2006). It is possible to explain these preferences with either evolutionary psychological and sociocultural explanations (although the two explanations need not be mutually exclusive). For instance, some evolutionary psychologists have posited the existence of preferences for WHR that are lower than the local female average (Sugiyama,




2004), rather than an invariant preference. However, this theory would have more difficulty explaining why the importance of the WHR should differ between countries. If men possessed an innate “perceptual mechanism” that uses WHR in mate selection, as Singh (1993) suggests, then we should expect the importance of WHR to be similar across cultural settings. However, in the present study the utility of the WHR appears to differ between countries: while the Spanish and Portuguese samples showed a preference for curvaceously thin women, British men seemed not to use the WHR in their judgments of attractiveness. Furthermore, we are not aware of any evidence to suggest that British, Spanish, and Portuguese women differ in their body types, which would partially validate the evolutionary psychological account. By contrast, a number of possible sociocultural arguments may explain these findings. First, it is possible that local cultural and historical factors in some Mediterranean countries give rise to divergent body shape preferences in comparison with other European countries. These might include a more relaxed relationship with eating and weight (Beer-Borst et al., 2000), the effects of local diet (Trichopolou et al., 2003), and greater genderrole stereotyping (Swami, Antonokopolous et al., 2006). It has been suggested, for example, that differential levels of gender-role stereotyping may lead to different cultural ideals of attractiveness. Although there is some evidence to support this argument (Furnham & Nordling, 1998; Lavrakas, 1975; Parsons, 1980; Swami, Antonakopoulos et al., 2006), it is notable that in recent studies Spain, Portugal, and Britain occupy similar ranks in terms of gender-role stereotyping (e.g., House et al., 2004). A different sociocultural argument is that some cultures or subcultures have different body image ideals because they are buffered from societal norms. This line of reasoning is corroborated by studies (e.g., Akan & Greilo, 1995; Perez & Joiner, 2003; Poran, 2002; Wilson, Sargent, & Dias, 1994) and reviews of the literature (Crago, Shisslak, & Estes, 1996; Pate, Pumariega, Hester, & Garner, 1992) demonstrating that African- and Latin-Americans in the United States have different attitudes about weight, body shape, and attractiveness than Caucasians, with, overall, less preference for thinness and greater acceptance of larger body proportions. It is possible that in Spain and Portugal, which show relatively less acculturation to Anglo-American ideals, there remains a greater acceptance of curvaceous female bodies as being physically attractive. Indeed, there is some anecdotal evidence to support this. For instance, our observations suggest that Spanish and Portuguese television stations tend to present local, rather than Anglo-American, programs, which include greater representations of Latinos and Hispanics. In addition, the greater emphasis on lower-body shape within Latino pop culture tends to support this idea (VelasquezManoff, 2005; cf. Rubin, Fitts, & Becker, 2003). Within such cultural constructions, men and women tend to find © 2007 Hogrefe & Huber Publishers

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large buttocks and wide hips more important features of attractiveness than their Anglo-American (or Caucasian) counterparts. Insofar as this remains a generalization of an entire genre, however, further research will be necessary to define and detail such preferences (cf. Furnham & Swami, 2007). Nevertheless, the results of the present study also suggest that, to be attractive, women in all three cultures have to be relatively slim (with a BMI of about 19–21 kg/m2). This appears to be supported by studies that suggest that thinness is an important component of self and other body image in Spain and Portugal (Gleaves et al., 2000; Toro et al., 2005). Indeed, recent studies have suggested that the preference for thinness and the prevalence of eating disorders in the Iberian Peninsula is reaching levels similar to those reported for other developed countries (Morande, Celada, & Casas, 1999). In general, researchers have traced this preference for relatively slender ideals in industrialized settings to a cultural (e.g., mass media and parental influences) emphasis on a slim physique (e.g., Becker & Hamburg, 1996; Garner et al., 1980). There are a number of limitations to the present study, which are worth commenting upon. First, it is possible that the Portuguese participants showed a preference for significantly lower female BMIs because of their younger age in comparison with their Spanish and British counterparts. Although this difference in preference was relatively small, and a previous study suggests that age is not a good predictor of body weight preferences (George et al., 2006), we could not rule out the possibility that age has a differential effect on some populations. Future studies would do well to more systematically recruit participants of the same sociodemographic background, rather than rely on opportunistic samples. This study’s reliance on a rather flexible measure of acculturation is another limitation to the overall design. In particular, it may be the case that core values that apply to national cultures do not apply well to individuals. Our flexible measure of acculturation further precludes us from generalizing these results to other settings. For example, it may be the case that Portuguese and Spanish participants are unique along some other dimension that we have not considered. It would be useful, therefore, for future studies to more explicitly define core cultural assumptions in their research. In conclusion, the results of this study suggest that cultural influences can affect preferences for particular body shapes. It is important to locate the perception of body size within particular cultural orders, including local tenets of social and historical importance, all of which may influence body esteem, body image, and eating disorders. In other words, the shape and size of particular bodies and the messages they convey are part of a larger value system that is a distinctive feature of each society (de Garine & Pollock, 1995). This may have important consequences for the way in which societal messages about European Psychologist 2007; Vol. 12(3):220–228

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body image are internalized by adolescents, and may elucidate means of combating poor body esteem through the promotion of cultural values (cf. Crago et al., 1996; Pate et al., 1992). Future work should take greater care in examining the way cultural effects moderate preferences for physical attractiveness, as this may help us understand the many components of body image and eating disorders.

Acknowledgments We are grateful for the constructive criticisms of Rainer Silbereisen and two anonymous reviewers on an earlier version of this manuscript.

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About the authors

Viren Swami

Viren Swami is a Research Associate at the Division of Public Health, University of Liverpool. His research interests include physical attraction from evolutionary and cross-cultural perspectives, as well as the influence of gender and gender-role stereotypes on human behavior.

Division of Public Health University of Liverpool Whelan Building Quadrangle Brownlow Hill Liverpool L69 3GB UK Tel. +44 151 794-5270 E-mail [email protected]

Félix Neto is Professor Catedrático of Social Psychology at the University of Porto, Portugal, where he is also the Director of the Cognition and Emotion Center. His research interests include migration and cross-cultural psychology. Martin Tovée is a Reader in Visual Cognition at the Department of Psychology, University of Newcastle, UK. His research explores human mate selection and the perception of physical attractiveness in an evolutionary psychological context. Adrian Furnham is an organizational and applied psychologist and Professor of Psychology at University College London. He is a prolific writer for the popular and academic press, and has many research interests including the science of attraction.

