title: Breast shape (ptosis) as a marker of a woman's breast attractiveness and age: Evidence from Poland and Papua.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A women's breast is a sex-specific and aesthetic bodily attribute. It is suggested that breast morphology signals maturity, health, and fecundity. The perception of a woman's attractiveness and age depends on various cues, such as breast size or areola pigmentation. Conducted in Poland and Papua, the current study investigated how breast attractiveness, and the further estimate of a woman's age based on her breast's appearance, is affected by the occurrence of breast ptosis (ie, sagginess, droopiness).
  
  
  METHODS
  In the Polish sample, 57 women and 50 men (N = 107) were presented with sketches of breasts manipulated to represent different stages of ptosis based on two different breast ptosis classifications. The participants were asked to rate the breast attractiveness and age of the woman whose breasts were depicted in each sketch. In Papua, 45 men aged 20 to 75 years took part in the study, which was conducted using only one of the classifications of breast ptosis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Regardless of the classification used, the results showed that the assessed attractiveness of the breasts decreased as the estimated age increased with respect to the more ptotic breasts depicted in the sketches. The results for Papuan raters were the same as for the Polish sample.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Breast ptosis may be yet another physical trait that affects the perception and preferences of a potential sexual partner. The consistency in ratings between Polish and Papuan raters suggests that the tendency to assess ptotic breasts with aging and a loss of attractiveness is cross-culturally universal.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, University of Wroclaw, Wroclaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Agata
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1932-4828
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Groyecka
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Biology, University of Wroclaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Agnieszka
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Żelaźniewicz
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, University of Wroclaw, Wroclaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Michał
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Misiak
authors.affiliation: The Maria Grzegorzewska University, Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Maciej
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Karwowski
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, University of Wroclaw, Wroclaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sorokowski
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001504:Beauty; D001940:Breast / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010219:Papua New Guinea; D010465:Perception; D011044:Poland; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: aging; breast ptosis; droop; sagging; sexual selection