Double-Edged Nature of Friendship : Attractiveness and Rivalry in Women's Friendships

Abstract

Previous research has demonstrated that female friends are rated as similarly attractive (Bleske-Rechek & Lighthall, 2010). It is possible, however, that female friends are similar more in the care they take in their appearance, or in the degree to which they display their attractiveness, than in their objective attractiveness. Two studies were designed to test that alternative explanation and to expand the existing evidence that emerging adult female friends assort on characteristics that are closely tied to mate search and acquisition: facial attractiveness, body attractiveness, and body shape.