Hot people are rubbish at being in relationships

We want them to be smart. Funny. Ambitious. And hot. Definitely hot.

Because what’s love without attraction, and envy from all your friends? Nothing, that’s what. Nothing.

But it turns out that choosing a hot partner might not be the best shout if you’re looking for romance that’s everlasting.

A study published in Personal Relationships and highlighted by Broadly notes that more attractive people tend to fail at having happy, fulfilling, long-term relationships.

A team of researchers did a series of experiments to look into how physical attractiveness affects relationship outcomes.

Or, more specifically, do hot people have shorter, unhappier relationships?

In the first study, two independent women looked at yearbook photos from the late 70s and 80s and rated men based on facial attractiveness.

Researchers then investigated the men in the photos on Ancestry.com to find out if they were married.

On average, those who were divorced tended to have been rated more attractive. Meaning that the more attractive men were more likely to have split up from their wives.

In the second study, the same women rated male and female celebrities, and, again, the researchers found that the more attractive celebs had been married for shorter amounts of time.

To look into why this is, the researchers then did a third experiment.

They asked people, with under half being in exclusive relationships, to rate the attractiveness of a ‘target’ of the opposite sex. This time around, those who were more attractive and in committed relationship showed more interest in the ‘targets’.

Which shows that more attractive people are more likely to have a wandering eye. Interesting.

In the final experiment, researchers looked at how relationship satisfaction impacted interest in alternative partners. Participants who were made to feel more attractive rated images of opposite sex higher in attractiveness, especially if they had also admitted that they were dissatisfied in their current relationship.

This implies that if someone’s in an unhappy relationship and they feel like they’re very attractive, that wandering eye intensifies.

Essentially, the research suggests that hot people may be more likely to break up because they aren’t bothered about committing to their current relationships – because they feel they have more alternative options.

Writer: Ellen Scott for Metro.co.uk