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2008-04-11 13:03:10
Jeanna Bryner
LiveScience Staff Writer
LiveScience.comThu Apr 10, 11:25 AM ET
Women seeking a lifelong mate might do well to choose the guy a notch below
them in the looks category. New research reveals couples in which the wife is
better looking than her husband are more positive and supportive than other
match-ups.
The reason, researchers suspect, is that men place great value on beauty,
whereas women are more interested in having a supportive husband.
Researchers admit that looks are subjective, but studies show there are some
universal standards, including large eyes, "baby face" features, symmetric
faces, so-called average faces, and specific waist-hip ratios in men versus
women.
Past research has shown that individuals with comparable stunning looks are
attracted to each other and once they hook up they report greater relationship
satisfaction. These studies, however, are mainly based on new couples, showing
that absolute beauty is important in the earliest stages of couple-hood, said
lead researcher James McNulty of the University of Tennessee. But the role of
physical attractiveness in well-established partnerships, such as marriage, is
somewhat of a mystery.
The new study, published in the February issue of the Journal of Family
Psychology, reveals looks continue to matter beyond that initial attraction,
though in a different way.
Supportive spouses
McNulty's team assessed 82 couples who had married within the previous six
months and had been together for nearly three years prior to tying the knot.
Participants were on average in their early to mid-20s.
Researchers videotaped as each spouse discussed with their partner a personal
problem for 10 minutes. The tapes were analyzed for whether partners were
supportive of spouses' issues, which included goals to eat healthier, to land a
new job and to exercise more often.
"A negative husband would've said, 'This is your problem, you deal with it,'"
McNulty said, "versus 'Hey, I'm here for you; what do you want me to do?; how
can I help you?'"
A group of trained "coders" rated the facial attractiveness of each spouse on a
scale from 1 to 10, with the perfect 10 representing the ultimate babe. About a
third of the couples had a more attractive wife, a third a more attractive
husband and the remaining partners showed matching looks.
Trophy wives
Overall, wives and husbands behaved more positively when the woman was better
looking.
The finding "seems very reasonable," said Dan Ariely, a professor of behavioral
economics at MIT's Program in Media Arts and Sciences and Sloan School of
Management. "Men are very sensitive to women's attractiveness. Women seem to be
sensitive to men's height and salary," said Ariely, who was not involved in the
recent study.
In couples with more attractive husbands, both partners were less supportive of
one another. McNulty suggests wives mirror, in some ways, the level of support
they get from husbands.
"The husband who's less physically attractive than his wife is getting
something more than maybe he can expect to get," McNulty told LiveScience.
"He's getting something better than he's providing at that level. So he's going
to work hard to maintain that relationship."
Men who are more attractive than their partners would theoretically have access
to partners who are more attractive than their current spouses, McNulty said.
The "grass could be greener" mentality could make these men less satisfied and
less committed to maintain the marriage.
Physical attractiveness of husbands is not as important to women, the
researchers suggest. Rather, wives are looking for supportive husbands, they
say.
So it seems the mismatch in looks is actually a perfect match. "Equitable is
unlikely to mean the same on every dimension," Ariely said during a telephone
interview. "It just means that overall two people make sense together."
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