2 replies to this topic

[Dave]

I'm not in love with the sample used to gather the data (too young; too narrow an age range), but I don't disagree with their conclusions (even though I consider attractiveness to be highly, highly subjective...which, I concede, runs counter to current research)

from the article
Why Beautiful Women Marry Less Attractive Men

men place great value on beauty, whereas women are more interested in having a supportive husband.

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.

Overall, wives and husbands behaved more positively when the woman was better looking. "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.

[Chad]

I thought this was going to be about the basis for most sitcoms created circa 2000.

[Deb]

Although I have problems with the age range, too. Most people are too superficial until they hit their 30's or even 40's, the assessment is pretty accurate.

There are always the ones that go against the norm though.

Geof is a good-looking guy, but I don't think of him as being uber handsome or gorgeous to the point where he would have the "grass is greener" mentality that I know a lot of excessively handsome men have.

He's shorter than me.

He's currently not working due to nerve problems in his hand and his employment as a DJ is sketchy, at best, when he does - mostly weekend or night work.