When you see a gorgeous woman with a not-so gorgeous man, what thought crosses you mind? It’s likely something along the lines of, “What does she see in him?” But the correct assumption, according to science, should lean more towards, “She must be really happy!”
Giving hope to every dad bod out there, a recent study finds that wives who have less attractive husbands are happier with their bodies.
The basis of the study looked at the correlation between how hot a woman’s partner was and her anxiety about needing to stay thin.
The relationship between women’s objective physical attractiveness and their dieting motivations and behaviors may depend upon their social environment—specifically, their romantic partners’ attractiveness—such that less attractive women with more attractive partners may be particularly motivated to diet.
Researchers out of Florida State University examined 113 newlyweds (married less than 4 months). After completing a set of questions to assess their desire to be thin, photographs of the participants were taken and ranked on a scale of 1 to 10 by two teams of evaluators. The women who ranked the lowest in attractiveness but were married to attractive husbands were found to be the most motivated to lose weight.
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On the flip side, the study found that attractive women married to less attractive men were rated as being the happiest. There’s something to be said about not feeling the need to be sexy around your spouse all the time or competing for their desire.
Results also showed that women tend to misperceive how thin their spouses want them to be.
This supports another study from the University of Tennessee that studied 82 newlyweds and found similar results: that men who married more attractive women were more likely to offer emotional support.
While men who married pretty women are content to bask in the glory of their partner’s beauty, men who are more attractive than their wives are more likely to offer less emotional and practical support to their partner. Study leader Jim McNulty was quoted in London’s Daily Mail as saying, “Attractive men have available to them more short-term mating opportunities. This may make them less satisfied and less committed to the marital relationship.”
Takeaway? The influence of husbands on their wives is pretty significant, attractive or not. And also, beauty really is in the eye of the beholder.
