A new study found marriage is more satisfying for both partners if the wife is thinner than her husband — at least in the first few years of marriage.
The four-year study, which followed 169 newlywed couples, found that when the wife had a lower BMI (Body Mass Index) than her husband, both were more satisfied — the husband more satisfied initially, and the wife more satisfied over time.
How does this work?
Weight and size are often symbolic of power for men.
“Those signs of bigness lead to a subconscious feeling within the woman of more security and, in turn, more marital satisfaction,” couple’s therapist Susan Heitler told Good Morning America.
Andrea Meltzer, lead author of the study, told CBS News “there is likely an evolutionary basis to men's initial satisfaction with a relatively thin partner — because women with a lower BMI may be more likely to be fertile than women with higher BMIs.”
The woman’s satisfaction, then, is likely related to her husband’s satisfaction, she hypothesized.
Fortunately, the “skinnier wife, happier life” findings don’t make a case for certain body types or unhealthy Hollywood standards. Even with this research, happy marriages come in all shapes and sizes.
“The great take-home message from our study is that women of any size can be happy in their relationships with the right partner. It’s relative weight that matters, not absolute weight. It's not that they have to be small,” Meltzer told ABC.
[Related: Being thin can be bad for you]
The study only looked at young marriages. All subjects were under the age of 35.
"The effects of relative weight could definitely change over time," Meltzer added. "As attractiveness plays less of a role, perhaps relative weight has less of an effect on satisfaction."
The study was published in the July issue of Social Psychological and Personality Science.
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