Attractive wives, high-status hubbies enhance marital quality — study

YOUR decision-making style — whether you make a “good enough” choice or seek to make the “best” possible choice among all possible options — influences your satisfaction with your partner, according to a three-year study of newly-weds.

Researchers from Florida State University found that maximising men — those who seek to make the “best” choice — who had attractive wives, were more satisfied at the start of their marriages than maximising men who had less attractive wives, and maximising women who had high-status husbands experienced less steep declines in satisfaction over time than maximising women who had low-status husbands.

The research appears in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, a recent release said.

“Maximising people are constantly trying to obtain the very best outcomes in life,” says lead author Juliana French (Florida State University). “For example, which is the best ice cream flavour? Which is the best song on the radio right now?”

“In the context of romantic relationships, maximisers are those who seek the best possible partner and who, over the course of their relationships, continue to compare their partners to other potential partners,” says French.

This could lead to overall lower satisfaction in maximisers’ long-term relationships if their partners do not compare favourably to those alternatives, on qualities that are important to them, the release said.

To test how maximisers might find happiness in their long-term relationships, the researchers studied 113 heterosexual newly-wed couples in north Texas and 120 newly-wed couples in north Florida. In both studies, people completed questionnaires assessing their marital satisfaction, tendencies to maximise when making decisions, and social status; additionally, the researchers obtained photographs of each spouse that, according to the release, they objectively coded for physical attractiveness.

They found that maximisers were more satisfied with their marriages if their partners possessed traits that were desirable to them — maximising men were more satisfied if they had attractive wives, and maximising women were more satisfied if they had high-status husbands. In contrast, satisficing men and women were similarly satisfied regardless of their partners’ traits.

Making decisions about romance — for example, who to date and who to marry — are central to our lives and well-being, the release said.

What other aspects of relationship functioning are impacted by maximising tendencies?

“We might find that maximisers take relationships slower than satisficers,” speculates French. “For example, maximisers might take longer to decide to be exclusive with someone, to move in together, to get married, to have children together, and so on.”