(NewsNation) — Men with more facial hair may prioritize long-term romantic relationships and family, while clean-shaven men may be searching for a partner, according to a new study.
The paper, published June 17 in “Archives of Sexual Behavior,” examined men’s motivation to grow, groom and shape their facial hair. Generally, men may “invest time, effort and money” toward their facial hair to improve their social image, the study suggests.
“Having more facial hair may be used by men to inform other people that their social motives shift from focusing on the mating market to focusing on long-term romantic relationships and family,” the study’s authors wrote.
People also see bearded men as more trustworthy and friendly, the study noted.
Researchers surveyed 414 heterosexual men from Poland, all aged 18 to 40. They showed the men photos of faces with different types of facial hair and had participants choose which image best reflected their own.
As part of the study, the men rated the importance of different motivations, including self-protection, disease avoidance, affiliation to a group, affiliation to friends, affiliation related to exclusion concern, status-seeking, mate-seeking, mate retention, kin care related to family members and kin care related to children.
Because researchers didn’t control the men’s relationship statuses, it’s unclear how the participants’ motives might have been informed by whether they already had a partner.
