Budnik Olga, Kleisner Karel
Department of Philosophy and History of Science, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic.
Am J Hum Biol. 2025 Jul;37(7):e70109. doi: 10.1002/ajhb.70109.
Handgrip strength is a widely used indicator of muscle strength and general health, but its association with facial morphology remains unclear. This study examined whether handgrip strength or its asymmetry is related to facial sexual shape dimorphism, perceived masculinity/femininity, and facial asymmetry in two culturally and genetically distinct populations: Cameroonian and Czech adults.
Geometric morphometric methods were applied to full-face portraits of 226 individuals (balanced by sex, aged 19-59), using 72 facial landmarks and semi-landmarks. Pearson correlations and a series of ANOVA analyses were then used to assess possible associations between facial traits and both absolute and asymmetric grip strength.
Across all models and subgroups, associations between handgrip strength and facial morphology were weak and nonsignificant. None of the facial characteristics reliably predicted either handgrip strength or its asymmetry in either men or women.
These findings suggest that facial morphology on its own does not reliably reflect muscular strength. Further research should incorporate longitudinal and cross-cultural designs.
握力是广泛使用的肌肉力量和总体健康指标，但其与面部形态的关联仍不明确。本研究在两个文化和基因不同的人群（喀麦隆和捷克成年人）中，检验握力或其不对称性是否与面部性形态二态性、感知到的男性气质/女性气质以及面部不对称有关。
使用72个面部标志点和半标志点，对226名个体（按性别平衡，年龄19 - 59岁）的全脸照片应用几何形态测量方法。然后使用Pearson相关性分析和一系列方差分析，评估面部特征与绝对握力和不对称握力之间的可能关联。
在所有模型和亚组中，握力与面部形态之间的关联较弱且无统计学意义。在男性或女性中，没有任何面部特征能够可靠地预测握力或其不对称性。
这些发现表明，仅面部形态本身并不能可靠地反映肌肉力量。进一步的研究应纳入纵向和跨文化设计。
