New Research: Men With Attractive Wives Are More Satisfied
Happy wife, happy life? Not anymore -- a recent study suggests it’s an attractive wife that leads to a satisfying marriage.
In the study, psychologists tracked over 450 newlywed couples during the course of four years and posed the question: does a good-looking spouse lead to a more satisfying union?
What they discovered was that spousal attractiveness does play a major role in marital satisfaction -- but only for men. In other words, men care about looks more than women do.
The significant effect of wives' attractiveness on husbands' satisfaction was significantly stronger than the nonsignificant effect of husbands' attractiveness on wives' satisfaction. That indicates that partner physical attractiveness plays a larger role in predicting husbands' marital satisfaction than it does in predicting wives' marital satisfaction, researchers say.
Interestingly, the attractive wives also reported higher levels of satisfaction, all because having a happy hubby
made them happier, too.
A 2008 study reached a similar finding: men who felt they "lucked out" by marrying attractive wives are happier and more likely to care about their wives' needs -- and in turn, the good-looking wives are happier in the relationship as well.
"The husbands seemed to be basically more committed, more invested in pleasing their wives when they felt that they were getting a pretty good deal," researchers explained.
The opposite occurred when the husbands felt they were better looking than their wives, the researchers further maintained. They didn't seem to be quite as motivated to help out their wives when they were more attractive than their wives.
What do you think, do you agree with the "hot wife, better life" theory? Sound off below.
