'Good-looking teenagers' are more likely to drink alcohol than average teenagers
When you see young people who are physically attractive, you might think, 'Everything in life seems to be going well.' However, a new study analyzing the relationship between physical attractiveness and behavior among teenagers found that good-looking young people are at higher risk of drinking more alcohol.
Beauty, underage drinking, and adolescent risky behaviors - ScienceDirect
The downside of being good looking
https://norwegianscitechnews.com/2024/06/the-downside-of-being-good-looking/
Attractiveness May Influence Teens' Tendency For Risky Behaviors : ScienceAlert
https://www.sciencealert.com/attractiveness-may-influence-teens-tendency-for-risky-behaviors
To investigate how 'physical attractiveness' affects young people's risky behavior, a research team from Norway, the UK, and other countries analyzed data from a longitudinal study called the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (AD Health), conducted in the United States.
Add Health is a longitudinal study that collected a wide range of demographic, social, family, economic, behavioral, psychological, cognitive, and health data from over 30,000 adolescents who were in grades 7-12 in the United States between 1994 and 1995. Participants were followed continuously after graduation and completed a variety of questionnaires as adults, ages 24-32.
Participants answered questions such as 'How much and how often did you drink alcohol in the past month?', 'Whether you binge drink?', 'Whether you smoke?', and 'Whether you use other drugs?', as well as providing information about casual sex and pregnancy.
Another unique feature of Add Health is that adult interviewers assessed the physical attractiveness of the young people. At the start of the study, the interviewers rated the young people's physical attractiveness on a scale of 1 to 5. Of course, the assessment of physical attractiveness is subjective, and most of the interviewers tended to be women. However, a 2000 meta-analysis found that people did not differ significantly in what types of faces they considered attractive, and the research team claims that the assessment of physical attractiveness is both useful and reliable.
The analysis revealed that physically attractive young people tend to drink more frequently and in larger quantities than those who are not. This trend held true for both men and women, but was particularly true for physically attractive women.
Furthermore, a follow-up study found that the participants' drinking habits as adults were similar to those observed in their teenage years. According to the research team, physically attractive women were more likely to develop drinking problems as adults than average women, while physically unattractive men were less likely to develop drinking problems as adults.
'Our main finding is that young people who are perceived as having the most desirable appearances generally drink more and are more likely to drink heavily on several consecutive days,' said lead author Colin Green of
While more physically attractive young people were more likely to drink alcohol, those rated as 'most attractive' were also less likely to smoke, use other drugs, or have casual sex.
The researchers speculate that this result may be due to the fact that drinking alcohol is perceived as 'cool' among young people, while smoking, other drugs, and casual sex are seen as 'uncool,' making popular young people less likely to engage in these activities.
'Young people may appear beautiful and successful, but they may also be carrying emotional burdens that undermine their self-confidence, such as an unstable home life or mental health issues. It's a dangerous combination,' Green said. He concluded that building self-esteem and confidence from an early age can help promote young people's health and prevent them from falling into unhappiness.
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