I don’t know about all of you, but I’m a big fan of digging through old photographs and camcorder videos from when I was young and impressionable (and frequently an overthetop dramatic!). It’s nice to look back on yourself as a young child, how you acted, the clothing and accessories that adorned your growing body, the toys you played with and the like. My parents took almost every opportunity the could to catch me and my younger brother during the holidays, if we looked cute or were doing something that was either embarassing or hilarious.
The reason I’m so intrigued with childhood photos is because a recent study at DePauw University, Indiana, found that children who smiled more frequently and intensely in photographs were more likely to stay married later in life. To be honest, after first reading this, I was skeptical, but after reading the study and its findings, it seems very logical!
Matthew Hertenstein, an associate professor of psychology at DeGauw University who led the study concluded that:
”The bottom-line finding is that people who smiled more stayed together, people who smiled less were more likely to get divorced.”
In order to tackle this study, researchers at the university measured the “smile intensity” in two groups of photos, measuring the facial muscles around the eyes and mouth between photographs of 665 university yearbook photos as well as the childhood photos of Midwesterners. The study findings state:
The top 10 percent of smilers had a 5.5 percent divorce rate, while 27 percent of the bottom 10 percent of smilers were divorced.
There are many hypothesis’ of why this may be true.
- Obedient people may be more likely to smile for the photograph and more likely to stick with a bad marriage later.
- Smiley people are more optimistic and willing to stay in a marriage and work to make it better.
- Happy people attract other happy people, leading to more successful marriages.
Do you fall into the category of being a grumpy pants in photographs? Fret not! Hertenstein elaborates that scientists and researches found many a people who were pouty in pictures who have successful and lasting relationships while those who were super smiley end up divorced. Even though the results of this study are not SUPER accurate, the pattern in the study seems to hold!
This is certainly interesting to think about. According to a few photographs I dug up on my computer, it’s hard to tell! With the streak of the theatre in me, I always exaggerated facial expressions, varying from super smiley to making weird and entertaining faces. This seems to be trend for me nowadays as well (see recent photographs). Regardless, lovies, take this with study with a grain of salt and make sure you’re radiating happiness with a welcoming smile!
Were you a smiley child? Or did you pout a lot growing up? Do you think smiling has anything to do with the success of your romantic relationships? Do you know anyone who was a pouter and is now in a great relationship? Thoughts are welcome!
Peace & love
Rach
Source:
Childhood Smiles- Or Frowns- and the Risk of Divorce. UsNews, April 17th 2009.
http://health.usnews.com/blogs/on-parenting/2009/04/17/childhood-smiles-or-frowns-and-the-risk-of-divorce.html
