Du Lounge men: Before you read on, do you prefer a chubby or slender mate?

Stressed-out men prefer a fleshier woman

There may be a love story at the intersection of the nation's battered economy and a steady rise in its obesity rates: Compared with men without a care in the world, men who are stressed out are more likely to find a rounder, plumper woman more attractive.

Men under stress not only rated the attractiveness of heavier women more positively, they found women appealing across a wider size spectrum than did men who were not stressed, says a new study published by the open-access journal Public Library of Science (PLoS) One.

Those findings are in line with long-standing evolutionary theories of how humans define beauty ideals in the opposite sex. Whether it's a man's square chin or the curve of a woman's waist, physical traits that project good health, maximum fertility and access to food and shelter promise the interested party the prospect of a good mate for carrying forth one's genes, and are thus more attractive.

By this reasoning, traits that convey ample access to food and an ability to withstand hardship will become more appealing in places and at times when food supplies are scarce or threatened.




http://www.orlandosentinel.com/health/la-heb-stress-attraction-20120809,0,7006714.story