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Association of Alcohol Consumption with Perception of Attractiveness in a Naturalistic Environment

AIMS: To investigate the relationship between objectively-assessed alcohol consumption and perception of attractiveness in naturalistic drinking environments, and to determine the feasibility and acceptability of conducting a large-scale study in these environments. METHODS: Observational study cond...

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Autores principales: Maynard, Olivia M., Skinner, Andrew L., Troy, David M., Attwood, Angela S., Munafò, Marcus R.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4755554/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26282686
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/alcalc/agv096
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author Maynard, Olivia M.
Skinner, Andrew L.
Troy, David M.
Attwood, Angela S.
Munafò, Marcus R.
author_facet Maynard, Olivia M.
Skinner, Andrew L.
Troy, David M.
Attwood, Angela S.
Munafò, Marcus R.
author_sort Maynard, Olivia M.
collection PubMed
description AIMS: To investigate the relationship between objectively-assessed alcohol consumption and perception of attractiveness in naturalistic drinking environments, and to determine the feasibility and acceptability of conducting a large-scale study in these environments. METHODS: Observational study conducted simultaneously across three public houses in Bristol, UK. Participants were required to rate the attractiveness of male and female face stimuli and landscape stimuli administered via an Android tablet computer application, after which their expired breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) was measured. RESULTS: Linear regression revealed no clear evidence for relationships between alcohol consumption and either overall perception of attractiveness for stimuli, for faces specifically, or for opposite-sex faces. The naturalistic research methodology was feasible, with high levels of participant engagement and enjoyment. CONCLUSIONS: We found no evidence for a relationship between alcohol consumption and perception of attractiveness in our large-scale naturalistic study. Our study is important given the large sample size, the successful translation of an experimental, laboratory-based paradigm to a naturalistic drinking environment and the high level of public engagement with the study. Future studies should use similarly ecologically-valid methodologies to further explore the conditions under which this effect may be observed and identify the mechanisms underlying any relationships.
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spelling pubmed-47555542016-02-17 Association of Alcohol Consumption with Perception of Attractiveness in a Naturalistic Environment Maynard, Olivia M. Skinner, Andrew L. Troy, David M. Attwood, Angela S. Munafò, Marcus R. Alcohol Alcohol Developmental AIMS: To investigate the relationship between objectively-assessed alcohol consumption and perception of attractiveness in naturalistic drinking environments, and to determine the feasibility and acceptability of conducting a large-scale study in these environments. METHODS: Observational study conducted simultaneously across three public houses in Bristol, UK. Participants were required to rate the attractiveness of male and female face stimuli and landscape stimuli administered via an Android tablet computer application, after which their expired breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) was measured. RESULTS: Linear regression revealed no clear evidence for relationships between alcohol consumption and either overall perception of attractiveness for stimuli, for faces specifically, or for opposite-sex faces. The naturalistic research methodology was feasible, with high levels of participant engagement and enjoyment. CONCLUSIONS: We found no evidence for a relationship between alcohol consumption and perception of attractiveness in our large-scale naturalistic study. Our study is important given the large sample size, the successful translation of an experimental, laboratory-based paradigm to a naturalistic drinking environment and the high level of public engagement with the study. Future studies should use similarly ecologically-valid methodologies to further explore the conditions under which this effect may be observed and identify the mechanisms underlying any relationships. Oxford University Press 2016-03 2015-08-16 /pmc/articles/PMC4755554/ /pubmed/26282686 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/alcalc/agv096 Text en © The Author 2015. Medical Council on Alcohol and Oxford University Press. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Developmental
Maynard, Olivia M.
Skinner, Andrew L.
Troy, David M.
Attwood, Angela S.
Munafò, Marcus R.
Association of Alcohol Consumption with Perception of Attractiveness in a Naturalistic Environment
title Association of Alcohol Consumption with Perception of Attractiveness in a Naturalistic Environment
title_full Association of Alcohol Consumption with Perception of Attractiveness in a Naturalistic Environment
title_fullStr Association of Alcohol Consumption with Perception of Attractiveness in a Naturalistic Environment
title_full_unstemmed Association of Alcohol Consumption with Perception of Attractiveness in a Naturalistic Environment
title_short Association of Alcohol Consumption with Perception of Attractiveness in a Naturalistic Environment
title_sort association of alcohol consumption with perception of attractiveness in a naturalistic environment
topic Developmental
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4755554/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26282686
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/alcalc/agv096
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