title: Your Face is Your Fortune: Does Adolescent Attractiveness Predict Intimate Relationships Later in Life?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A growing literature documents the importance of physical attractiveness in young and middle adulthood for romantic, marital, and sexual relationships, but little is known about how attractiveness in adolescence matters to intimate relationships in later life. We ask: does attractiveness early in life convey ongoing benefits late in life, or do such benefits erode over time?
  
  
  METHODS
  We use multivariate regression models and more than 50 years of data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study to examine the connections between adolescent physical attractiveness and intimate relationships (i.e., sexual activity and access to potential sexual partners) in later life.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We find that adolescent attractiveness facilitates sexual activity in later life. This relationship is largely driven by attractiveness increasing the probability of having access to potential sexual partners. However, attractiveness is not related to sexual activity among married couples, even after controlling for marital duration. Men, those in good health, and wealthier individuals are also more likely to engage in several facets of intimate relationships.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings highlight the importance of relationship context for later life sexual activity and begin to explicate the pathways through which factors across the life course-particularly attractiveness-influence sexual activity in later life.
authors.affiliation: Human Development and Family Studies, Iowa State University. karraker@iastate.edu.
authors.forename: Amelia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Karraker
authors.affiliation: Center for Demography of Health and Aging and.
authors.forename: Kamil
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sicinski
authors.affiliation: La Follette School of Public Affairs, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
authors.forename: Donald
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Moynihan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001504:Beauty; D000066492:Cognitive Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D000066499:Facial Recognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D000067029:Physical Appearance, Body; D011336:Probability; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012747:Sexual Partners / Q000523:psychology*; D014922:Wisconsin; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Family sociology; Life course analysis; Sexual behavior