Do you think I'm sexy? Not if you're Rod's boy

Published on Wednesday 29 October 2008 21:10

GOOD-LOOKING couples produce attractive daughters but their looks have little impact on whether their sons are handsome, a study by a Scottish university has revealed.

Researchers from the University of St Andrews found that parents have little effect on their son's looks but handsome couples tend to pass on the "beautiful genes" to their daughters.

In a study of family photographs, psychologists Professor David Perrett and Elisabeth Cornwell – now at the University of Colorado – found that while both father and mother can influence the attractiveness of their daughters, the couple's good looks do not necessarily contribute to the attractiveness of their son as an adult.

Psychologists yesterday gave the example of Jane Fonda, daughter of Henry Fonda. She was seen as a beautiful actress in her youth but her brother, Peter, was considered less attractive.

Other examples include Rod Stewart and his former wife, Alana. Their daughter Kimberly is a model and, some would say, better looking than her brother, Sean.

Similarly, Hollywood beauty Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier of Monaco were the parents of Princess Stephanie – a model – while their son, Albert, may be regarded as less good-looking.

Prof Perrett said: "We can't see a strong relationship between the parents' attractiveness and the sons. If the parents are supermodels, the chances are the daughters will be lookers.

" The Fondas are a good example. Jane Fonda was very beautiful and highly acclaimed, whereas brother Peter was attractive to some, but not all."

The researchers studied the family photo albums of students, collecting images of more than 100 females and 100 males and their biological parents taken over several years.

Test methods were very simple, in the photos of each student the father and mother were rated separately for attractiveness, and for femininity or masculinity. The team then compared how the ratings of parents related to their offspring.

"When we looked at women's faces, we found clear evidence that attractiveness passed from both father and mother to daughter," said the professor.

"We are perplexed as to why we did not find any evidence for the inheritance of attractiveness in males, through either the female or male parent."

Prof Perrett said family photographs presented a valuable resource in studies of mate-choice and the extent that traits pass across generations.

The psychologists showed the resource can be tapped to provide some evidence on how evolutionary theory applies to human mate choice.

The survey found men with strong masculine traits are likely to produce similarly macho sons, but macho sons are not considered especially attractive.

Some believe females can increase their reproductive success by choosing "sexy" mates, whose genes are passed on to male offspring, making them attractive to females.

The hypothesis presumes that masculinity underlies male allure. However, the research at St Andrews contradicts this and found that attractive fathers and mothers do not necessarily produce facially attractive sons.

"We checked to see if male and female facial traits are inherited," he added.

"For the male line, we find that facial masculinity conforms to the rule 'like father – like son': masculine dads have masculine sons, but we did not find any evidence that facial attractiveness is passed from father to son."

The research is published in the journal Animal Behaviour.