A recent study suggests that women who have had good childhood relationships with their father go for partners who resemble their dads.

　　"Daddies girls" tend to go for men who look much like their father, according to a team of UK scientists.

　　A study carried out by psychologists at the University of Durham and two Polish institutions suggests that women who have had a good childhood relationship with their fathers tend to select partners who resemble their dads.

　　However, evidence also suggests that women who have had a bad relationship with their dads are less likely to find attractive men who look like their male parents.

　　How we choose partners

　　It is hoped that the research, partly supported by the Economic and Social Research Council and The Royal Society, will shed more light on how we choose partners and examine the impact of a parent’s role in the process – which until recently was believed by researchers to be a passive one.

　　The study not only highlights the importance of parent relationships in partner selection, but also has the potential to add to studies in areas like evolutionary biology, fertility, genetics and psychology.

　　Impact on attractiveness

　　With the focus on investigating evidence of parental sexual imprinting, the team used facial measurements to give a clear view of how a father's facial feature relates directly to the features of faces their daughters find attractive.

　　Dr Lynda Boothroyd from Durham University explained that the "controlled results show for certain that the quality of a daughter’s relationship with her father has an impact on whom she finds attractive".

　　She added: "It shows our human brains don't simply build prototypes of the ideal face based on those we see around us, rather they build them based on those to whom we have a strongly positive relationship.

　　"We can now say that daughters who have very positive childhood relationships with their fathers choose men with similar central facial characteristics to their fathers."

　　Celebrities under the spotlight

　　Well-known celebrities in the UK such as Nigella Lawson and Zoe Ball are two examples which support the study's findings.

　　Comparing pictures of Nigella's husband Charles Saatchi with her father Nigel Lawson and Zoe's husband Norman Cook with her dad, Johnny Ball, reveals strong links, especially in the central facial area, including the nose, chin and eyes.

　　You can find out more information about the study and its findings in the July issue of Evolution and Human Behavior. http://journals.elsevierhealth.com/periodicals/ens　　  (Source: British Consulate-General in Chongqing)