Study Says Women on the Pill Choose More Stable Partners

New research suggests women on birth control pills tend to choose men they feel will be more stable relationship partners over guys who may be better looking or sexier.

In the study, Scottish and Czech scientists asked 2,500 women who had at least one child about their relationships with their partners, and which method of birth control they were using when they met. Previous research has shown a trend of hormone fluctuations influencing women’s mate choices — ovulating women, for example, tend to choose more virile men.

But because the pill largely keeps hormone levels steady, scientists found that women who take them were more likely to still be in their relationships. They also found that while those women see their partners as less attractive than women who aren’t on the pill, the man’s ability to provide financially got a higher rating.

In a statement, psychologist Craig Roberts of the University of Stirling in Scotland said, “Women tend to find genetically dissimilar men attractive because resulting babies will be more likely to be healthy. It’s part of the subconscious ‘chemistry’ of attraction between men and women.”

[MSNBC]