Differences in the Perceived Attractiveness of Non-contact and Combative Athletes' Facial Pictures

Female mating strategies and partner preferences are influenced by many factors. Depending on the life context, the preference for either a long-term or a short-term relationship, the willingness to have off-spring, or the current fertility conditions can be key factors. Differences can largely be t...

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Main Authors: Vajda Petr, Strašilová Kateřina, Reguli Zdenko
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Sciendo 2019-03-01
Series:Physical Culture and Sport: Studies and Research
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.2478/pcssr-2019-0006
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author Vajda Petr
Strašilová Kateřina
Reguli Zdenko
author_facet Vajda Petr
Strašilová Kateřina
Reguli Zdenko
author_sort Vajda Petr
collection DOAJ
description Female mating strategies and partner preferences are influenced by many factors. Depending on the life context, the preference for either a long-term or a short-term relationship, the willingness to have off-spring, or the current fertility conditions can be key factors. Differences can largely be traced to the perception of physical masculinity and the ability to provide and raise offspring. This study seeks to obtain data that will help to describe changes in the female perception of the attractiveness of facial photographs of male elite golfers (non-contact sport) and MMA fighters (combative sport) in connection with the following factors: age, sexual activity/passivity, use of hormonal contraceptives, duration of actual relation-ship, and number of children. Data for this study were collected using an anonymous questionnaire that included photos of the athletes in a random order and a 1-10 rating scale (10 indicating the most attractive). The research sample consisted of 1,035 female participants. The statistical significance was analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests, Eta2, and Cohen's d for the average ratings of the contact and non-contact athletes. The female participants slightly preferred the golfers’ pictures. This preference grew significantly with age and number of children. A possible explanation for these results may be the participants’ decreasing fertility or the willingness to have another child in the Czech socio-culture. In such cases, the strong masculine features typical of combative athletes could be less important. In contrast to some earlier findings, contraceptive use did not affect the perception of male attractiveness compared to the entire sample's average ratings, furthermore, neither did sexual activity/passivity.
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spelling doaj.art-521a99080ee34505903cf03b0f2501102022-12-21T22:37:54ZengSciendoPhysical Culture and Sport: Studies and Research1899-48492019-03-01811758610.2478/pcssr-2019-0006pcssr-2019-0006Differences in the Perceived Attractiveness of Non-contact and Combative Athletes' Facial PicturesVajda Petr0Strašilová Kateřina1Reguli Zdenko2Masaryk University, Brno, Czech RepublicMasaryk University, Brno, Czech RepublicMasaryk University, Brno, Czech RepublicFemale mating strategies and partner preferences are influenced by many factors. Depending on the life context, the preference for either a long-term or a short-term relationship, the willingness to have off-spring, or the current fertility conditions can be key factors. Differences can largely be traced to the perception of physical masculinity and the ability to provide and raise offspring. This study seeks to obtain data that will help to describe changes in the female perception of the attractiveness of facial photographs of male elite golfers (non-contact sport) and MMA fighters (combative sport) in connection with the following factors: age, sexual activity/passivity, use of hormonal contraceptives, duration of actual relation-ship, and number of children. Data for this study were collected using an anonymous questionnaire that included photos of the athletes in a random order and a 1-10 rating scale (10 indicating the most attractive). The research sample consisted of 1,035 female participants. The statistical significance was analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests, Eta2, and Cohen's d for the average ratings of the contact and non-contact athletes. The female participants slightly preferred the golfers’ pictures. This preference grew significantly with age and number of children. A possible explanation for these results may be the participants’ decreasing fertility or the willingness to have another child in the Czech socio-culture. In such cases, the strong masculine features typical of combative athletes could be less important. In contrast to some earlier findings, contraceptive use did not affect the perception of male attractiveness compared to the entire sample's average ratings, furthermore, neither did sexual activity/passivity.https://doi.org/10.2478/pcssr-2019-0006sexual habitsrisky sexual behaviorpreventionsexually transmitted illnesses
spellingShingle Vajda Petr
Strašilová Kateřina
Reguli Zdenko
Differences in the Perceived Attractiveness of Non-contact and Combative Athletes' Facial Pictures
Physical Culture and Sport: Studies and Research
sexual habits
risky sexual behavior
prevention
sexually transmitted illnesses
title Differences in the Perceived Attractiveness of Non-contact and Combative Athletes' Facial Pictures
title_full Differences in the Perceived Attractiveness of Non-contact and Combative Athletes' Facial Pictures
title_fullStr Differences in the Perceived Attractiveness of Non-contact and Combative Athletes' Facial Pictures
title_full_unstemmed Differences in the Perceived Attractiveness of Non-contact and Combative Athletes' Facial Pictures
title_short Differences in the Perceived Attractiveness of Non-contact and Combative Athletes' Facial Pictures
title_sort differences in the perceived attractiveness of non contact and combative athletes facial pictures
topic sexual habits
risky sexual behavior
prevention
sexually transmitted illnesses
url https://doi.org/10.2478/pcssr-2019-0006
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