Preferences for body type and body characteristics associated with attractive and unattractive bodies: Jackson and McGill revisited

The present investigation replicates Jackson and McGill's study (1996) and extends it by considering the effects of respondents' own height, a weight and body mass on perceptions of attractiveness. Results, although generally supportive of those found by Jackson and McGill, point to the influence of respondents' own physical characteristics in the process of perceptions of attractiveness: only 1 of Jackson and McGill's 3 (of a possible 19) differ ences between responses of African- and Euro-American women was corroborate d (the importance of silky hair for Euro-American women), whereas a second difference (the importance of round buttocks for African-American women) di sappeared when controlling for respondents' weight, height, and body mass. Although differences between the two investigations may be attributed to re gional differences in the surveyed students (Michigan and North Carolina, t he small effect of one's own weight, height, and body mass in assessing an other-sex person's attractiveness may reflect adherence to norms learned ve ry early in life that are subject to regional variations.