Attractive kids get more attention - study

Good looking children get more attention from their parents than less attractive ones, a new study has claimed.

Dr Andrew Harrell, a researcher at the University of Alberta, Canada, followed parents of children aged between two and five around supermarkets, observing their behaviour.

His team monitored whether youngsters were strapped into trolleys and whether they were allowed to wander more than three metres away.

Dr Harrell concluded that 1.2% of the least attractive children were buckled in, compared with 13.3% of the most attractive youngsters.

He said the better looking children were “hovered over” and unwittingly kept in closer contact. He claims the pattern of behaviour is proof that in modern day society, attractiveness is an asset.

“Most people are upset that attractiveness would even be a factor – they certainly don’t think it is,” he said.

“If you give them a questionnaire, they’ll say, ‘No, I love all my kids, and I don’t discriminate on the basis of attractiveness’. The whole point of our research is that people do.”

In total, some 426 children were observed at 14 supermarkets. To collaborate their findings, kids’ looks were graded on a scale of one to 10.