Men's Faces Show Paternal Potential

Men's faces can reveal their interest in having children, according to psychologists who claim women subconsciously pick up on the subtle cues when choosing a partner.

In a controversial study, researchers used photographs of men who had been quizzed on their fondness for children, to see if women could identify those more likely to want a family.

The researchers found that not only were women often able to rank men by their fondness for children, but those who appeared more keen on kids were rated as more attractive prospects for long-term relationships.

Lead researcher at the University of California, Santa Barbara Jim Roney said that a man's perceived attractiveness might have more to do with his desire to have children than previously thought.

"Our data suggest that men's interest in children predicts their long-term mate attractiveness, even after we account for how physically attractive the women rated the men," he said. "Men's interest in children may be a relatively underappreciated influence on their long-term mate attractiveness."

In the study, 39 men gave saliva samples that were used to measure their testosterone levels. Each was then shown 20 pairs of pictures, with one image depicting an adult human or animal and the other showing a baby of the same species. By stating which image they preferred in each case, the psychologists were able to rank the males by their interest in babies.

The researchers then asked 29 undergraduate women to judge the men's photos, rating each man on his fondness for children, masculinity, physical attractiveness and kindness. They were then asked to judge which most appealed as a short-term romantic partner and which seemed the best long-term partner.

The tests showed that women were easily able to identify the most masculine men, who scored highest on testosterone levels. The same men were often picked as the best short-term partners.

But the men chosen as the best long-term partner - those earmarked as having marriage potential - were consistently the ones who showed a greater interest in children, the scientists report in the journal, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, today.

"Women's ability to estimate men's interest in infants from face photographs is perhaps the most novel finding to emerge from this study," said Dr Roney.

Professor David Perrett, an expert in facial cues at the University of St Andrews, said the work was impressive. "The interesting question is what is driving the judgments, but once you know there is an association between appearance and judgments or physiological variables, you can home in on the important cues. This work does just this: warm expressions in males seem to correlate with and convey greater child interest."

· Ian Sample is a Guardian science correspondent