"Daddy's girls" who enjoyed close relationships with their fathers as children are more likely to select men who resemble them, according to a new study.
The study, which is to be published in the July issue of Evolution and Human Behaviour, investigated women's sexual preference for individuals who resembled their fathers.
Women who did not get along with their fathers as children, however, were not attracted to men who resembled their dads, said the British and Polish psychologists.
The study bolsters theories that parental relationships may affect who women choose as partners later in life.
It could also contribute to research in areas such as evolutionary biology, fertility, and genetics and offer new insights in areas like relationship counselling and psychology, the researchers contend.
"While previous research has suggested this to be the case, these controlled results show for certain that the quality of a daughter's relationship with her father has an impact on whom she finds attractive," study author Dr. Lynda Boothroyd of Durham University in the United Kingdom said in a statement.
"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."
The study used a sample of 49 heterosexual Polish women, each asked to select the most appealing male face from a variety of 15 physically distinct faces.
The men's ears, hair, neck, shoulders and clothing were not visible, to guard against revealing external influences such as pierced ears that could sway results.
A trained anthropologist measured the facial features of the women's fathers, and compared them to the men whose photos were used in the study.
The daughters were also asked to rate their paternal relationships in areas such as:
- How engaged their fathers were when raising them
- How much leisure time their fathers spent with them
- How much emotional investment they received from their fathers
The psychologists then added up these scores to rate the nature of the relationship between father and daughter.
When the women were assessed as a group, the researchers said there was no overall correlation between the fathers' faces and the men's faces they chose.
Among those who rated the relationship with their father as positive, however, there was a significant link.
The study cited well-known daddy's girl Nigella Lawson, saying a comparison of the photos between the celebrity foodie's husband Charles Saatchi and her husband Nigel Lawson showed some resemblances, particularly in the nose, chin and eyes.
Although it is not yet clear why women show these preferences, the researchers suggested a woman with a great relationship with her father may choose a mate who resembles him in the hopes he will also be a good dad.
The researchers have yet to examine whether heterosexual men who were close to their mothers growing up also prefer women who resemble them, but they expect similar findings.
