The role of body weight, waist-to-hip ratio, and breast size in judgments of female attractiveness

It was demonstrated by Singh and Young (1995) that morphological features such as overall body fat distribution measured by waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and breast size, influence judgments of female attractiveness, age, and desirability for relationships. The present study was a replication and extension of that research using both male and female participants. The results supported the general findings of the original study, and as predicted, the effect of breast size on attractiveness judgments depended on overall body fat and WHR. The significance of interactions within the different morphological features which determine female attractiveness were noted. Over-all, there were surprisingly few sex differences. Results are discussed in terms of the socio-biological theories currently popular in the literature.