Assessment of Waist to Hip Ratio as a Determinant of Female Attractiveness in a Sampled Kenyan Population

Abstract

Background: Similar to shoulder to hip ratio and facial symmetry in males, waist to hip ratio (WHR) is a phenotypic cue to fecundity and fertility in women and an established proxy for rating attractiveness in females. In the modern age, an increased focus on body image has incited an increasingly greater interest in achieving transcendent feminine ideals leading to an increase in demand for aesthetic surgery. The ideal WHR of a population is subject to many influencers however, the perception of female attractiveness in our setup is mainly driven by western countries’ literature with no local data available to guide plastic surgeons. Objective: To assess the waist to hip ratio as a determinant of female attractiveness in a sampled Kenyan population. Methodology: This was an analytical cross-sectional study carried out at The University of Nairobi student’s residences. Female volunteers between the ages of 18 and 30 from the University’s community were selected to serve as the models and determine their WHR. Males and females between the ages of 18 and 45 were recruited from the Kenyatta National Hospital and the University of Nairobi population to act as judges to the attractiveness of the models in images using a 10-point Likert scale. Data were collected, coded and then entered into SPSS (IBM version 25). Each model's average rating from all of the judges of a particular sex and from a particular perspective were determined. Pearson correlation test was used to determine correlation between the average ratings and the anthropometric variables (waist circumference, hip circumference/most prominent part of the butt, BMI and WHR). Multiple linear regression was used to assess the effect of WHR on attractiveness ratings independent of the effects of other anthropometric variables. Independent t-test was used to determine if there was a difference in perception/rating of feminine beauty using WHR between male and female judges. At a 95% confidence level, a p-value of <0.05 was considered significant. Data analyzed were summarized and presented in tables and figures...