A new study by experts from University of North Texas and Rice University found out that when it comes to choosing a partner for a romantic relationship, almost half of women prefer taller men.
The researchers used two methods to gather data. The first one was by displaying dating ads on Yahoo's website. They looked at 455 ads for men, with an average height of 5'8 and average age of 36 and 460 ads for women with an average height of 5'4 and average age of 35. These data reflected that only 13.5 percent of men wish to be taller than the women that they're dating while 48.9 percent of women desired to date men who are taller than them.
For the second experiment, the researchers recruited 54 male and 131 female volunteers. The average height of the male participants is 5'9 while the average height for female participants is 5'4. The participants were asked to answer a survey with open-ended questions. Findings for this part of the study are consistent with the first results: 55 percent of women prefer to date taller men while 37 percent of men expressed their desire to date shorter women.
"Evolutionary psychology theory argues that 'similarity is overwhelmingly the rule in human mating," said Michael Emerson, co-author of the study, in a press release.
"However, our study suggests that for physical features such as height, similarity is not the dominant rule, especially with females", he added.
Data from the study suggests that most women prefer taller men because they feel more feminine and more secured. Another reason was the social expectations.
"The masculine ability to offer physical protection is clearly connected to the gender stereotype of men as protectors," said lead author George Yancey in the press release. "And in a society that encourages men to be dominant and women to be submissive, having the image of tall men hovering over short women reinforces this value."
The study was published in the Journal of Family Issues.
