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Parents’ Looks Influence Children’s Choice of Mates

When it comes to choosing a mate, women are looking for a man who reminds them of dear old dad while men prefer someone who resembles mommy dearest.  People tend to choose someone who bears facial similarities that resemble the parent of the opposite sex, according to Hungarian researchers.  The way parents’ looks influence children’s choice of mates is thought to be an element of evolution.

Tamas Bereczkei, working from Hungary’s University of Pecs, studied the looks of 52 families, involving 312 adults, in a comparison of facial features, with 14 facial zones of particular interest.  Each family was comprised of a heterosexual couple and their two sets of parents.

Facial comparisons within families were noted but each couple also selected faces that were taken at random from the general population.  Women did exhibit a strong tendency to choose men who bore facial resemblances to their fathers and the men to their mothers but the facial zones that the men and women seemed to be most attracted to varied according to gender.

Men preferred women whose lips were about the same fullness as their mothers’ lips but the width of women’s mouths and the width and length of their jaws attracted attention when these features, too, were similar to that of their mothers.  Women shifted their attention a little higher, to the eye area, choosing men who were similar to their fathers based on distance between a man’s mouth and brow, the overall height of his face, the distance between his eyes, and the size of his nose.

One theory posed by Bereczkei as to why we choose a mate who resembles our opposite-sex parent is to enhance our genetic representation in generations to come.  Incest is out of the question, genetically and culturally, but choosing a mate that resembles a parent may genetically reinforce any adaptive advantages that have developed over generations, especially useful at a time when adapting to one’s environment was crucial.

Happiness plays a part in the selection process, too, according to Bereczkei.  Couples who share characteristics, both physical and psychological, are more likely to stay together over the course of a lifetime than do couples who are less similar.  This happiness factor may influence fertility, too.

Bereczkei’s study is available in the science journal, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, a publication of Great Britain’s academy of sciences.

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