Posted on 12/10/2024 5:03:56 AM PST by Red Badger
One doesn’t cause the other, but there seems to be an association for some people.
Image credit: logika600 / Shutterstock.com
Anew study has pointed to a strange correlation with a person’s drinking habits: the ratio of their fourth digit (sometimes called the ring finger) to the second digit. Specifically, scientists found a relationship between having a ring finger that is longer than the second digit and high alcohol consumption.
The ratio of our finger lengths is something that’s set before birth, in part influenced by the hormones we are exposed to in the womb. People exposed to more estrogen tend to have second digits longer than their ring fingers, while those exposed to more testosterone can have ring fingers longer than their second digits. There are also people whose ring finger and second digits are the same length.
This latest study looked at 258 student participants – 169 of them female – to see what their finger ratios were and how much alcohol they consumed. The results showed there was a correlation between higher alcohol consumption and longer ring fingers relative to second digits, pointing towards the potential influence of hormones as a contributor to the likelihood of imbibing as a student.
“A pattern like this suggests an involvement of sex hormones, such as testosterone and oestrogen,” said Professor John Manning, of Swansea University’s Applied Sports, Technology, Exercise and Medicine (A-STEM) research team in a statement. “Digit ratio (2D:4D: the relative lengths of the 2nd [index] and 4th [ring] fingers) is thought to be an index of early testosterone (long 4th digit) and oestrogen (long 2nd digit).”
“It is known that alcohol-dependent patients have very long 4th digits relative to their 2nd digits, suggesting high testosterone relative to oestrogen exposure before birth. As expected, the associations were stronger for men than women.”
It’s worth pointing out that the association can’t establish cause and effect, so having a certain finger ratio doesn’t dictate a person’s outcome – but it’s hoped that identifying the connection could shine a light on factors underlying alcohol use.
“Alcohol consumption is a major social and economic problem,” said Manning. “Therefore, it is important to understand why alcohol use shows considerable differences across individuals.”
The study is published in the American Journal Of Human Biology.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajhb.24187
There is no connection. Waste of time.
My shop teacher who only had 9 fingers was a teetotaler.
Used to work with a guy whose middle finger (I forget which hand) was missing the entire first joint.
Asked him why, he said he lost it on a planer when he was a teenager, not using a push stick.
He said he didn’t feel a thing until he saw blood spurting all over the place.
It was his dad’s workshop and he wasn’t suppose dto be using the equipment without his dad being there, but he didn’t get ‘the lecture’ when dad got home..............
His dad was just trying to keep him from drinking.
Well, they ARE Baptists................
From the article ...
It’s worth pointing out that the association can’t establish cause and effect, so having a certain finger ratio doesn’t dictate a person’s outcome – but it’s hoped that identifying the connection could shine a light on factors underlying alcohol use.
Bump
Same here; I also defy the study.
Ring fingers definitely longer than index. I might have four glasses of wine in a year.
What if you have two ring fingers? Any polydactyls tested?
I’m sure he’s forgiven.
No, it makes you deformed.
Yo doc! D9 ya wanna tell my fortune next? Maybe go back to reading the bumps on people’s heads.
I used to work with a guy who had no ring finger at all on his left hand. He had jumped down from a loader onto a rock that turned under his foot, and when he fell his wedding ring caught on the handrail. Stripped all the flesh off the finger.
Obviously you are bi.
I (hic!) Doan (hic!) Unnnerstan?
Didn’t ‘they’ identify this little trait of the ‘wookie’ and assign it in reference to her ‘bulge?’
The ring finger does not cause anything.
It is a symptom of high gestational testosterone. Many studies show it correlates with lots of secondary male sex characteristics, good and bad:
Larger muscle size
Ability to grow a beard
Athletic ability
Penis size
Jaw size
Tolerance for risk
Etc.
I bet, however, you were relatively good at math compared to reading.
It is odd that this story reports what seems to be a sex linked trait, with alcohol consumption compared to finger length without controlling for sex.
I would hope that the full journal article linked in the story covers that.
“Sex linked trait,” of course, doesn’t mean that X has a binary distribution. The sexual binary boils down to whether one’s body produces eggs or sperm, which in turn implies the requisite plumbing.
Beyond that, however, we move into a wide range of sex linked traits on which there are significant overlaps and outliers among both sexes. Differences in temperament and interests are probably the most interesting and socially leveraged for anything other than athletic performance, jobs requiring heavy lifting, or combat arms. On average, men and women exhibit different patterns, and this is true across cultures. But there is great overlap in the broad middle ground, and there are outliers in both sexes. It would be interesting to see how digit length compares, for example, to differences on aggression, neuroticism, depression, autistic tendencies, and myriad others.
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