“No matter how old I am, I don’t like what my stomach looks like.” Lifespan perspective on the changes in self-assessment of attractiveness and life satisfaction in women

ABSTRACT

The study aimed to examine the association between self-assessment of attractiveness and life satisfaction in women, where age was a potential moderator of this relationship. A cross-sectional study of 360 women aged 18 to 89 was performed. Participants assessed their overall attractiveness, the attractiveness of their individual body parts, and their life satisfaction. The relationship between the assessment of attractiveness of particular body parts and life satisfaction depended on age. The results indicate that not only overall self-attractiveness, but also the perceived attractiveness of particular body parts (different in each distinguished age group: 18–25, 30–45 and 60+) can be considered predictors of life satisfaction in women.

KEYWORDS:

• Attractiveness
• life satisfaction
• women
• body parts
• aging

Acknowledgments

Dr. Katarzyna Skałacka and Dr. Grzegorz Pajestka were solely responsible for all the content and writing of the paper.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by Opole University, Opole, Poland.