Department of Child and Adolescent Health, School of Public Health, Bengbu Medical College, No. 2600 East Sea Avenue, Bengbu, 233030, Anhui, People's Republic of China.
Sci Rep. 2021 Mar 4;11(1):5217. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-84711-x.
Body image dissatisfaction (BID) is a negative evaluation of personal physical characteristics, including dissatisfaction with body shape, gender, sexual organs, appearance and so forth, and it plays an important role in growth and development. The second-to-fourth digit ratio (2D:4D) is recognized as a putative indicator of intra-uterine testosterone to estrogen ratio exposure, and it has been observed that higher levels of fetal testosterone exposure are associated with a lower 2D:4D. The present paper contributes to a better understanding of the biological underpinnings of BID by analyzing BID and the digit ratio (2D:4D). We found that the 2D:4D was positively related to appearance dissatisfaction in boys with first spermatorrhea, which means that low prenatal androgen exposure may increase boys' dissatisfaction with their appearance. In girls with breast development being lower than Tanner stage II, their 2D:4D was negatively related to their body shape dissatisfaction, which means that high prenatal androgen exposure may increase girls' dissatisfaction with their body shape. These results suggest that the prenatal androgen exposure level might play an important role in the body image dissatisfaction of the offspring.
体像不满（BID）是对个人身体特征的负面评价，包括对体型、性别、性器官、外貌等的不满，它在生长发育中起着重要作用。第二至第四指骨长度比（2D:4D）被认为是胎儿期睾酮与雌激素比值暴露的一个潜在指标，已有研究观察到胎儿期睾酮暴露水平较高与 2D:4D 较低有关。本文通过分析 BID 和数字比率（2D:4D），为更好地理解 BID 的生物学基础做出了贡献。我们发现，2D:4D 与首次遗精男孩的外貌不满呈正相关，这意味着低产前雄激素暴露可能会增加男孩对外貌的不满。在乳房发育低于 Tanner Ⅱ期的女孩中，她们的 2D:4D 与体型不满呈负相关，这意味着高产前雄激素暴露可能会增加女孩对体型的不满。这些结果表明，产前雄激素暴露水平可能在子女的体像不满中起着重要作用。
