Attractiveness and Marital Satisfaction

Studies of newlyweds have found links between partners’ rated attractiveness and some measures of relationship behavior or satisfaction, but results vary across samples and do not prove that a “less attractive husband” guarantees a stronger marriage. One longitudinal study of four newlywed samples found that wives’ attractiveness was associated with husbands’ higher marital satisfaction; it did not examine whether married men groom themselves less. [1–2]