Jeanna Bryner
LiveScience Staff Writer
LiveScience.com Thu 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."
