Study Shows Parents Favor Attractive Children

In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, the bard observes that "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em." The same is true of ugliness. While the expression "a face only a mother could love" suggests that parents find their children attractive, unsettling research proves what every teenager knows -- ugly people get the short end of the stick. Moreover, even Mom treats the ugly kid differently from the good-looking one.

MacLeans magazine ran a great piece by Brian Bergman detailing research presented by Andrew Harrell at a demographics conference in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (For American readers, it's sort of above Montana -- for those on the East Coast, Montana is on the way to Seattle, where Starbucks comes from). Dr. Harrell had some researchers follow parents and their kids around supermarkets noting how attractive the child was and whether the parent used the little buckle placed on the child seat. Some 426 child-parent groups were observed, and just 1.3% of the ugly kids got buckled up while 13.3% of attractive kids were so protected.

OK, this is a pretty subjective study, right? Odd sociologists lurking in supermarkets, judging the attractiveness of kids and worrying about safety belts (where does Dr. Harrell get his grant money?) can't possibly be scientific. After all, the real fact is that something like 9 out of 10 parents don't bother with the safety belt, and around 30,000 kids are injured in North America each year because of shopping cart accidents. Yet, there are other studies that Mr. Bergman's article brings up that say beauty is not really just in the eye of the beholder but the opinion about beauty is hardwired into human beings. If so, it's hard luck for the ugly.

Humans in study after study appear to find traits that suggest health and fertility to be attractive. Clear skin, symmetrical features and fluid movements are preferred (regardless of culture or even age) to blemishes, wonky eyes and shaky movements. John Cleese, formerly of Monty Python's Flying Circus, did a documentary on the human face a few years back that even showed a preference for the number phi, also known as the Golden Ratio, about 1.618. The closer features are to phi in relation to other features, the more attractive the person is judged to be.

A 1995 study at the University of Texas showed mothers of children adjudged attractive by research students got more attention and cuddling, cooing mothering than those who appeared less phine-looking. Although the researchers maintained all the mothers treated their kids well, there was a clear preference. So, perhaps that is why Tom Smothers always told his brother Dick, "Mom always liked you best." Tom's the cute one. At least, that's what everybody says.


© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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