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Professor Lynda Boothroyd's Outputs (56)

''Thank God we are like this here'': A qualitative investigation of televisual media influence on women's body image in an ethnically diverse rural Nicaraguan population. (2024)
Journal Article
Thornborrow, T., Boothroyd, L. G., & Tovee, M. J. (2025). ''Thank God we are like this here'': A qualitative investigation of televisual media influence on women's body image in an ethnically diverse rural Nicaraguan population. Body Image, 52, Article 101817. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2024.101817

Abundant published literature evidences the harmful effects of appearance-idealized media imagery on women's body image in predominantly Western populations. Most countries in Latin America (LA) have received little empirical attention. The current s... Read More about ''Thank God we are like this here'': A qualitative investigation of televisual media influence on women's body image in an ethnically diverse rural Nicaraguan population..

Relationships between media influence, body image and sociocultural appearance ideals in Latin America: A systematic literature review (2024)
Journal Article
Andres, F. E., Boothroyd, L. G., Thornborrow, T., Chamorro, A. M., Dutra, N. B., Brar, M., Woodward, R., Malik, N., Sawhney, M., & Evans, E. H. (2024). Relationships between media influence, body image and sociocultural appearance ideals in Latin America: A systematic literature review. Body Image, 51, Article 101774. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2024.101774

The rapidly growing body of research investigating media influence on body image in Latin America has not been previously comprehensively synthesised. We systematically reviewed studies of the relationships between media use/influen... Read More about Relationships between media influence, body image and sociocultural appearance ideals in Latin America: A systematic literature review.

Examining body appreciation in six countries: The impact of age and sociocultural pressure (2024)
Journal Article
Hanson, L. N., Gott, A., Tomsett, M., Useh, E., Yeadon-Caiger, E., Clay, R., Fan, J., Hui, K., Wang, H., Evans, E. H., Cowie, D., & Boothroyd, L. G. (2024). Examining body appreciation in six countries: The impact of age and sociocultural pressure. PLoS ONE, 19(7), Article e0306913. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0306913

Previous research on body appreciation across the lifespan has produced conflicting results that it increases with age, decreases with age, or is generally stable with an increase in women over 50-years-old. Furthermore, most of the research has been... Read More about Examining body appreciation in six countries: The impact of age and sociocultural pressure.

Cultural Predictors of Facial Ethnicity Preference in the Miskitu and Mestizos of Rural Nicaragua (2024)
Journal Article
Jucker, J. .-L., Thornborrow, T., Batres, C., Penton-Voak, I. M., Jamieson, M. A., Burt, D. M., …Boothroyd, L. G. (2024). Cultural Predictors of Facial Ethnicity Preference in the Miskitu and Mestizos of Rural Nicaragua. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 55(3), 292-307. https://doi.org/10.1177/00220221241232674

Both basic visual experience and cultural associations with race and ethnicity may contribute to the extent observers do or do not favor some facial ethnicity cues over others. Given that visual media contain a highly biased selection of faces, with... Read More about Cultural Predictors of Facial Ethnicity Preference in the Miskitu and Mestizos of Rural Nicaragua.

The Global Temperament Project: Parent-Reported Temperament in Infants, Toddlers and Children from 59 Nations (2024)
Journal Article
Putnam, S. P., Selec, E., French, B., Gartstein, M. A., Lira Luttges, B., & Partners in the Global Temperament Project. (in press). The Global Temperament Project: Parent-Reported Temperament in Infants, Toddlers and Children from 59 Nations. Developmental Psychology,

Data from 83,423 parent reports of temperament (Surgency, Negative Affectivity, and Regulatory Capacity) in infants, toddlers and children from 341 samples gathered in 59 countries were used to investigate the relations among culture, gender and temp... Read More about The Global Temperament Project: Parent-Reported Temperament in Infants, Toddlers and Children from 59 Nations.

Validation of a Latin-American Spanish version of the Body Esteem Scale for Adolescents and Adults (BESAA-LA) in Colombian and Nicaraguan adults (2023)
Journal Article
Andres, F. E., Thornborrow, T., Bowie, W. N., Chamorro, A. M., De la Rosa, G., Evans, E. H., Fontalvo Acuña, L. S., Kolar, D. R., Mebarak, M. R., Tovar Castro, J. C., & Boothroyd, L. G. (2023). Validation of a Latin-American Spanish version of the Body Esteem Scale for Adolescents and Adults (BESAA-LA) in Colombian and Nicaraguan adults. Journal of eating disorders, 11(1), Article 219. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-023-00942-5

Background: Body dissatisfaction (BD) is a growing concern in Latin America; reliable and culturally appropriate scales are necessary to support body image research in Spanish speaking Latin American countries. We sought to validate a Latin-American... Read More about Validation of a Latin-American Spanish version of the Body Esteem Scale for Adolescents and Adults (BESAA-LA) in Colombian and Nicaraguan adults.

Agent-based models of the cultural evolution of occupational gender roles (2023)
Journal Article
Cross, C. P., Boothroyd, L. G., & Jefferson, C. A. (2023). Agent-based models of the cultural evolution of occupational gender roles. Royal Society Open Science, 10(6), https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.221346

The causes of sex differences in human behaviour are contested, with ‘evolutionary’ and ‘social’ explanations often being pitted against each other in the literature. Recent work showing positive correlations between indices of gender equality and th... Read More about Agent-based models of the cultural evolution of occupational gender roles.

(Super-)cultural clustering explains gender differences too (2022)
Journal Article
Boothroyd, L. G., & Cross, C. P. (2022). (Super-)cultural clustering explains gender differences too. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 45, Article e156. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0140525x21001539

The target paper shows how cultural adaptations to ecological problems can underpin “paradoxical” patterns of phenotypic variation. We argue: (1) Gendered social learning is a cultural adaptation to an ecological problem. (2) In evolutionarily novel... Read More about (Super-)cultural clustering explains gender differences too.

Sociocultural drivers of body image and eating disorder risk in rural Nicaraguan women (2022)
Journal Article
Thornborrow, T., Evans, E., Tovee, M., & Boothroyd, L. (2022). Sociocultural drivers of body image and eating disorder risk in rural Nicaraguan women. Journal of eating disorders, 10(1), Article 133. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-022-00656-0

Objective: Technological and economic globalisation has been suggested as a cause of increasing rates of body dissatisfaction and eating disorders globally, especially as regards the impact of mass media on internalised body ideals. This process is r... Read More about Sociocultural drivers of body image and eating disorder risk in rural Nicaraguan women.

A meta-analysis of the association between male dimorphism and fitness outcomes in humans (2022)
Journal Article
Lidborg, L. H., Cross, C. P., & Boothroyd, L. G. (2022). A meta-analysis of the association between male dimorphism and fitness outcomes in humans. eLife, 11, Article e65031. https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.65031

Humans are sexually dimorphic: men and women differ in body build and composition, craniofacial structure, and voice pitch, likely mediated in part by developmental testosterone. Sexual selection hypotheses posit that, ancestrally, more 'masculine' m... Read More about A meta-analysis of the association between male dimorphism and fitness outcomes in humans.

Callous-Unemotional Traits are Associated With Child-to-Parent Aggression (2021)
Journal Article
Kuay, H., Boothroyd, L., Towl, G., Tiffin, P., & Munoz, L. (2022). Callous-Unemotional Traits are Associated With Child-to-Parent Aggression. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 66(15), 1603-1626. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624x211049190

This study examined the relations between callous-unemotional traits and perpetration of aggression toward parents in two separate studies, while also considering motivation for aggression and parenting styles experienced among young people. Study 1... Read More about Callous-Unemotional Traits are Associated With Child-to-Parent Aggression.

Testing Mate Choice Hypotheses in a Transitional Small Scale Population (2021)
Journal Article
Boothroyd, L., Jucker, J., Thornborrow, T., Tovee, M., Batres, C., & Penton-Voak, I. (2021). Testing Mate Choice Hypotheses in a Transitional Small Scale Population. Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology, 7(3), 220-244. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40750-021-00173-5

Objective Tests of theories of mate choice often rely on data gathered in White, industrialised samples and this is especially the case for studies of facial attraction. Our understanding of preferences for sexual dimorphism is currently in flux and... Read More about Testing Mate Choice Hypotheses in a Transitional Small Scale Population.

Experimental manipulation of muscularity preferences through visual diet and associative learning (2021)
Journal Article
Jacques, K., Evans, E., & Boothroyd, L. (2021). Experimental manipulation of muscularity preferences through visual diet and associative learning. PLoS ONE, 16(8), Article e0255403. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0255403

Body preferences are somewhat flexible and this variability may be the result of one’s visual diet (whereby mere exposure to certain bodies shifts preferences), associative learning mechanisms (whereby cues to health and status within the population... Read More about Experimental manipulation of muscularity preferences through visual diet and associative learning.

Can realistic dolls protect body satisfaction in young girls? (2021)
Journal Article
Boothroyd, L., Tovée, M., & Evans, E. (2021). Can realistic dolls protect body satisfaction in young girls?. Body Image, 37, 172-180. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2021.02.004

Ultra-thin fashion dolls may represent a risk factor for thin-ideal internalisation and body dissatisfaction amongst young girls. We asked thirty one 5- to 9-year-old girls to engage in interactive play with commercially available dolls which were ei... Read More about Can realistic dolls protect body satisfaction in young girls?.

Muscles and the Media: A Natural Experiment Across Cultures in Men’s Body Image (2020)
Journal Article
Thornborrow, T., Onwuegbusi, T., Mohamed, S., Boothroyd, L. G., & Tovée, M. J. (2020). Muscles and the Media: A Natural Experiment Across Cultures in Men’s Body Image. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, Article 495. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00495

An increasing number of studies are evidencing relationships between the drive for muscularity and potentially harmful behavioral strategies, such as unhealthy dieting and steroid use amongst men in WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Dem... Read More about Muscles and the Media: A Natural Experiment Across Cultures in Men’s Body Image.

Television Consumption Drives Perceptions of Female Body Attractiveness in a Population Undergoing Technological Transition (2019)
Journal Article
Boothroyd, L., Jucker, J.-L., Thornborrow, T., Barton, R., Burt, D., Evans, E., Jamieson, M., & Tovee, M. (2020). Television Consumption Drives Perceptions of Female Body Attractiveness in a Population Undergoing Technological Transition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 119(4), 839-860. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000224

Perceptions of physical attractiveness vary across cultural groups, particularly for female body size and shape. It has been hypothesised that visual media propagates Western ‘thin ideals’. However, because cross-cultural studies typically consider g... Read More about Television Consumption Drives Perceptions of Female Body Attractiveness in a Population Undergoing Technological Transition.

The Impact of a Dissonance-Based Eating Disorders Intervention on Implicit Attitudes to Thinness in Women of Diverse Sexual Orientations (2019)
Journal Article
Kant, R. N., Wong-Chung, A., Evans, E. H., Stanton, E. C., & Boothroyd, L. G. (2019). The Impact of a Dissonance-Based Eating Disorders Intervention on Implicit Attitudes to Thinness in Women of Diverse Sexual Orientations. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, Article 2611. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02611

Dissonance-based body image programs have shown long-term effectiveness in preventing eating disorders and reducing risk factors for eating disorders in women. Here we report on the potential for one such intervention to impact on implicit attitudes... Read More about The Impact of a Dissonance-Based Eating Disorders Intervention on Implicit Attitudes to Thinness in Women of Diverse Sexual Orientations.

Mate Preferences Across the Lifespan (2019)
Book Chapter
Boothroyd, L., & Vukovic, J. (2019). Mate Preferences Across the Lifespan. In L. Welling, & T. Shackelford (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of evolutionary psychology and behavioral endocrinology (143-159). Oxford University Press

Humans show preferential responses to ‘attractive’ individuals from the first hours of life onwards. However, these early preferences are subject to later development, both in terms of increasing agreement on general attractiveness, and the emergence... Read More about Mate Preferences Across the Lifespan.

Investigating the link between television viewing and men’s preferences for female body size and shape in rural Nicaragua (2018)
Journal Article
Thornborrow, T., Jucker, J.-L., Boothroyd, L., & Tovée, M. (2018). Investigating the link between television viewing and men’s preferences for female body size and shape in rural Nicaragua. Evolution and Human Behavior, 39(5), 538-546. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2018.05.005

The different levels of media access in otherwise very similar villages in rural Nicaragua provided a natural laboratory to explore the effect of television (TV) access on men's preferences for female body size and shape. In study 1 we compared the f... Read More about Investigating the link between television viewing and men’s preferences for female body size and shape in rural Nicaragua.