Attractive People More Likely to Have Drinking Problems, Scientists Say

While being attractive can have its perks, better-looking people may be more likely to develop problems with alcohol.

Increased levels of risky behavior in young people—such as partying more and drinking more alcohol—have been linked to a high level of physical attractiveness, according to a paper in the journal Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization. And increased drinking during teenage years may lead to a greater risk of drinking problems later in life.

The researchers studied a dataset of 30,000 US young people and investigated how being good-looking affected six different types of behavior: drinking, binge drinking, drug use, unprotected sex, smoking and unwanted pregnancies.

They found that the most attractive a person was as a teenager—rated by the interviewer on a scale of 1 to 5—the more likely they were to drink or binge drink. This was especially true for attractive women, who were significantly more likely to have drunk alcohol recently, compared with their less attractive peers.

“Our main finding is that young people who are perceived to have the most pleasant appearance generally drink more and more often engage in binge drinking, which involves several consecutive days of drinking,” said study co-author Colin Peter Green, a professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, in a statement.

“The research shows that the risks they take and how they fare later on in life are linked to their inner confidence and self-respect,” he said.

Interestingly, more attractive teenagers were less likely to smoke, do drugs or have unprotected sex. The researchers suggest that this may be because these risky behaviors are considered less “cool,” meaning that the more attractive teenagers were less inclined to participate in them.

The paper's researchers wrote: “Investigation into the underlying channels reveals that physically attractive adolescents are more popular, and have higher self-esteem and personality attractiveness. Popularity leads to a higher likelihood of engagement in 'cool' risky behaviors and a lower likelihood for ' uncool' behaviors, while self-esteem and personality generally predict a lower likelihood of engaging in all risky behaviors.”

The paper also reveals that a higher level of drinking in more attractive teens could lead to alcohol problems when they're older. Previous studies have shown that drinking as a teenager is linked to alcohol problems in adulthood.

“A young person may appear beautiful and successful, but they may also be carrying emotional baggage that can undermine their self-confidence, such as an unstable home life and mental health issues. This can be a dangerous combination,” Green said.

So while more attractive people tend to have numerous advantages in life—from better success in job hunting and a higher average wage to better political performance—attractiveness as a teen can lead to behaviors that can negatively affect adult life.

“We wanted to look at how beauty affects the important life choices young people make before they become adults. We assumed that appearance might affect risky behavior that has consequences later in life,” Green said.

The researchers suggest that awareness of this trend is crucial to addressing and managing these risky behaviors in teens before they become a problem in adulthood.

They wrote: “Our findings suggest that physical attractiveness, and its associated characteristics, provide another avenue for understanding non-cognitive traits that are important in child and adolescent development and carry lifetime consequences. For instance, nourishing adolescent self-esteem could prove useful for preventing the onset of risky behavior.

“Finally, these risky behaviors are themselves of importance due to their link to negative outcomes both in adolescence and across the life course,” the researchers said. “Our results suggest that pre-determined (at least prior to adolescence) traits have marked effects on these behaviors and related outcomes.”

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