It’s a great day for those with a ‘dad bod,’ because according to a new study, it’s the body type women find most attractive.
Forget chiseled abs and ultra-lean physiques, researchers have found that ‘dad bods,’ with their softer edges and a bit of extra padding, are actually the gold standard for male attractiveness.
The study, published by researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Personality and Individual Differences, even put forward theories as to why people with this kind of physique are the most appealing.
The study methodology
The study involved 283 participants from China, Lithuania, and the UK.
Each person was shown 15 black-and-white photos of men with different body mass indexes (BMIs).
BMI is a calculation that uses height and weight to determine whether someone is underweight, of a healthy weight, overweight or obese.
The photos included men with BMIs ranging from 20.1 to 33.7.
Faces were blurred to focus solely on body shape, and participants were asked to rank the images from least to most attractive.
The results showed that the most appealing male bodies had a BMI between 23 and 27.
Specifically, peak attractiveness was linked to a BMI of 23.4 in China, 23.0 in Lithuania, and 26.6 in the UK.
For context, in Australia, a “healthy” BMI for adults generally falls between 18.5 and 24.9, with those between 25 and 29.9 considered “overweight”.
Therefore, the most attractive bodies weren’t those who were skinny or very lean, but rather those with a few extra pounds.
What this means
Although the physical findings are interesting, the researchers were more intrigued by the ‘why’ behind the results.
“Body fat (adiposity) may be important because it is linked closely (inversely) to circulating testosterone levels and is therefore a better indicator of mate ‘quality’,” the researchers said.
Basically, a mid-range BMI aligns with optimal survival and reproductive fitness.
“The most attractive BMI in males was close to the predicted level maximising survival,” the study explained.
So, if you’ve been skipping the gym for the occasional pint and schnitzel, science suggests you might be onto something.
But for women, the same can’t be said.
The researchers found in earlier work that males who judge females believe that being thinner than the “evolutionary optimal” is more attractive.
So while women might pick a partner based on their evolutionary advantages, men mainly just care about how their partner’s look.
