Why marrying out of your league could increase divorce risk

Why marrying out of your league could increase divorce riskWhy marrying out of your league could increase divorce riskMen who marry women who are out of their league - that is, significantlymora attractivethan they are - may have less committed wives and a higher risk of divorce, experts say.A variety of research suggests that couples who do bedrngnis match one another in their approximate levels ofphysical attractivenesstend to have less successful romantic relationships, Madeleine Fugre, a professor of Social Psychology at Eastern Connecticut State University, wrote inPsychology Today.People are understandably attracted to others who are out of their league- onerecent analysisof online dating data indicated that men and women pursue prospects up to 25% more attractive than they are. Nonetheless, most people seem to have a fairly good idea of how attractive they are and whom they can expect to attract,researchsuggests, and largely maintain relationshipswith more similarly matched individuals. Most men dont bat out of their league.But when couples do mismatch, the outlook is bleak. Women who report that their partners are significantly less attractive than they are, onestudyfound, are more likely to flirt with others and report feeling less committed to the relationship.Otherresearchsuggests that physically mismatched couples may have shorter, less successful relationships, not because the more attractive party is less committed, but because the less attractive one is more prone to jealousy.There is some hope in the research, however. When Benjamin Karney of UCLA interviewed 82 newlywed couples about the challenges in their relationships and day-to-day lives, he found that men who had married much more attractive women (as rated by a panel of brutally honest undergraduate students) were doing better, overall. The interesting thing is that those husbands were happier than the other husbands, he said in astatement. And those husbands were more helpful. And they were more effective and more positive when helping their wives with their problems.Furthermore,Fugre suspects that couples who were friends prior to becoming romantic may be able to get away with greater disparities in attractiveness. She cites onestudythat found that longer acquaintance predicts reduced assortative mating on attractiveness. In other words, if you have a long friendship before you begin dating,writes Fugre, then physical attractiveness may be less important to relationship initiation or maintenance.This article was originally published on Fatherly.Why marrying out of your league could increase divorce riskMen who marry women who are out of their league - that is, significantlymore attractivethan they are - may have less committed wives and a higher risk of divorce, experts say.A variety of research suggests that couples who do not match one another in their approximate levels ofphysical attractivenesstend to have less successful romantic relationships, Madeleine Fugre, a professor of Social Psychology at Eastern Connecticut State University, wrote inPsychology Today.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and morePeople are understandably attracted to others who are out of their league- onerecent analysisof online dating data indicated that men and women pursue prospects up to 25% more attractive than they are. Nonetheless, most people seem to have a fairly good idea of how attractive they are and whom they can expect to attract,researchsuggests, and largely maintain relationshipswith more similarly matched individuals. Most men dont bat out of their league.But when couples do mismatch, the outlook is bleak. Women who report that their partners are significantly less attractive than they are, onestudyfound, are more likely to flirt with others and report feeling less committed to the relationship.Otherresearchsuggests that physically mismatched couple s may have shorter, less successful relationships, not because the more attractive party is less committed, but because the less attractive one is more prone to jealousy.There is some hope in the research, however. When Benjamin Karney of UCLA interviewed 82 newlywed couples about the challenges in their relationships and day-to-day lives, he found that men who had married much more attractive women (as rated by a panel of brutally honest undergraduate students) were doing better, overall.The interesting thing is that those husbands were happier than the other husbands, he said in astatement. And those husbands were more helpful. And they were more effective and more positive when helping their wives with their problems.Furthermore,Fugre suspects that couples who were friends prior to becoming romantic may be able to get away with greater disparities in attractiveness. She cites onestudythat found that longer acquaintance predicts reduced assortative mating on attractiveness.In othe r words, if you have a long friendship before you begin dating,writes Fugre, then physical attractiveness may be less important to relationship initiation or maintenance.This article was originally published on Fatherly.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people