Dr Lynda Boothroyd

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Current research news:

Father-daughter relationships and physical attraction

It's been known for years that the presence or absence of a woman's biological father from the family home relates to her reproductive development - there is a tendancy for 'father absent' girls (those whose biological fathers do not live with them throughout their childhood) to reach puberty earlier than other girls.  They also tend to enage in sexual relationships at an earlier age and are more at risk of teenaged pregnancies.  Less was known, however, about who they had these relationships with - i.e. how might father absence relate to attraction?

This new study shows that the better a relationship a woman reports with her father, the more she's attracted to masculine men, and also suggests that women who experienced 'father absence' may prefer less masculine men than those who did not.  Since masculine men are thought to be 'high quality' and harder to engage in a long term relationship, it may be that difficult or disrupted family relationships in childhood have an impact on a woman's sense of what she can 'compete' for.  This would fit with our previous research into father absence and physical appearance.

Boothroyd, L.G. & Perrett, D.I. (2008) Journal of Evolutionary Psychology, 6, 187-205