Men with wider face more likely to cheat

TORONTO: Facial characteristics may reveal your attitude towards casual sex. New research has found that men with square and wide faces tend to have a higher sex drive than others, are more easy-going when it comes to casual sex and would consider being unfaithful to their partners.

File photo.

Toronto, September 20

Facial characteristics may reveal your attitude towards casual sex. New research has found that men with square and wide faces tend to have a higher sex drive than others, are more easy-going when it comes to casual sex and would consider being unfaithful to their partners.

In fact, the study published in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior showed that even women with shorter, wider faces tend to be more sexually motivated and to have a stronger sex drive than those with faces of other dimensions.

"Together, these findings suggest that facial characteristics might convey important information about human sexual motivations," said lead researcher Steven Arnocky of Nipissing University in Ontario, Canada.

The study adds to a growing body of research that has previously shown that certain psychological and behavioural traits are associated with particular facial width-to-height ratios known as FWHR.

Researchers attributed differences in facial proportions to variations in testosterone levels during particular developmental periods, such as puberty.

This hormone plays a role in forming adult sexual attitudes and desires.

In this paper, Arnocky and his colleagues showed the results of two separate studies conducted among students.

In the first, 145 undergraduates who were in romantic relationships at the time completed questionnaires about their interpersonal behaviour and sex drive.

The researchers also used photographs of the participants to determine their facial width-to-height ratio.

The second study involved 314 students and was an extended version of the first study, which included questions about participants' sexual orientation, the chances of them considering infidelity, and their socio-sexual orientation.

The latter is a measure of how comfortable participants are with the concept of casual sex that does not include love or commitment.

The findings suggest that width-to-height ratios can be used to predict a measure of sexuality in both sexes, Arnocky said.

Men and women with a high FWHR (therefore, square and wide faces) reported a greater sex drive than others. — IANS