The Face “Betrays” Our Childhood Socioeconomic Status

Researchers in Scotland found that a person’s physiognomy reflects socio-economic status had it in childhood. This can be detected by studying people’s faces even after 70 years.

The study published in Economics and Human Biology was conducted on a sample of 292 older adults, part of the Lothian Birth Cohort 1921, a long-term research aimed at the development of lifelong health of children born that year.

Scientists aim was to see whether subjects now octogenarian, kept in their physiognomy traces reflecting the way they grew up.

To determine this, participants completet related questionnaires on family economic status that increased information about parents’ occupation, number of family members and how they were assigned to each room. Also, participants were asked to reveal the profession who had a middle age, to determine social class in which it fell.

At the age of 83 years, each individual and were studied 15 facial caracterictici, including the position and distance between the eyes, ears, mouth and nose. It is known that people who have symmetrical faces are attractive because facial asymmetry is a consequence of stress, infections, toxins, or genetic differences.

At 87 years, researchers measured the symmetry of the 14 places on the body, including the length of fingers, ankles, wrists and elbows.

Scientists have found a link between facial symmetry and poor financial condition in childhood. This association was observed although low, was more pronounced for men than women.

Researchers suggest that early environmental factors such as childhood nutrition, disease and smoking habits of parents or alcohol, can leave its mark on the child’s face. In addition, men who grew up in a family with material problems will increase by a high facial asymmetry, even if their financial situation maturity recovered.

Professor Timothy Bates University of Edinburgh, co-author of the study, confessed that his team was surprised to discover that social status influenced since childhood facial symmetry and body symmetry survived childhood despite the shortcomings.

“We believe this is because the body symmetry reflects more processes that are protected during development, while facial features are more flexible and reflect the stress in a greater extent,” said Bates.