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Perceptions of Beardedness for Attractiveness, Masculinity, Fighting Ability, and Partner Quality: A cross-cultural Examination Among Hispanic and Iranian Women

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Abstract

Men’s beardedness is a sexually dimorphic trait that has played a role in both inter- and intra-sexual selection. It has been suggested that women may prefer bearded men because it may be a cue to men’s underlying physiology and immune function. Beardedness has also been implicated in perceptions of men’s aggressiveness and dominance. In the current research, we explored preferences for men’s beardedness among Iranian and Hispanic women and whether those preferences were moderated by trait pathogen proneness. In Study 1, Hispanic women were recruited and asked to choose the beard profile, from clean-shaven to very long, on a variety of traits (i.e., attractiveness, masculinity, fighting ability, reliable partner, and suitable father). Women more frequently chose light and moderate-length beard types across all outcome measures, and their self-reported levels of disgust was associated with higher preferences for clean-shaven profiles. In Study 2, Hispanic and Iranian women were recruited and asked to rate the beard profiles across the measures. Compared to Iranian women, Hispanic women demonstrated a stronger preference for bearded men. Further, there were cultural differences in self-reported measures of disgust and their preferences for beards in men. The findings from the current study highlight the unique preferences across populations for bearded profiles in men, and they suggest that they may be associated with pathogen trait levels.

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Data Availability

The data is available upon author request.

Code Availability

The data was analyzed using the Jamovi program. The file is available upon request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge support from the TAMIU Advancing Research and Curriculum Initiative (TAMIU ARC) awarded by the US Department of Education Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (Award # P031S190304).

Funding

The authors acknowledge support from the TAMIU Advancing Research and Curriculum Initiative (TAMIU ARC) awarded by the US Department of Education Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (Award # P031S190304).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology and Communication, Texas A&M International University, 5201 University Blvd, Laredo, TX, 78041, USA

    Ray Garza & Jose Mora

  2. Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

    Reza Afhami

  3. School of Psychology, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK

    Farid Pazhoohi

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  1. Ray Garza
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  2. Reza Afhami
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  4. Farid Pazhoohi
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Contributions

Author Contributions: Conceptualization, R.G., R.A., F.P.; methodology, R.G., R.A., F.P.; software, R.A., J.M.; validation, R.G., R.A., F.P.; formal analysis, R.G., J.M. ; investigation, R.G., R.A., F.P.; resources, R.G., R.A., F.P.; data curation, R.G.; writing— R.G., R.A., J.M., F.P.; writing— R.G., R.A., F.P.; visualization, R.G., R.A., F.P.; supervision, R.G., F.P.; project administration, R.G., R.A., F.P.; funding acquisition, J.M. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Ray Garza.

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Garza, R., Afhami, R., Mora, J. et al. Perceptions of Beardedness for Attractiveness, Masculinity, Fighting Ability, and Partner Quality: A cross-cultural Examination Among Hispanic and Iranian Women. Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology 9, 325–343 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40750-023-00225-y

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