Status and Beauty Do people exchange physical attractiveness for socio-economic status in partnerships?

This paper investigates if status-attractiveness exchanges are taking place in German couples. Building on theoretical considerations three hypotheses are tested: First, both men and women exchange physical attractiveness for socio-economic status in partnerships. Second, the exchange is gender specific, in that women trade physical attractiveness for socio-economic status in men. Third, exchange of status and attractiveness does not happen. Instead, status-homogamy creates a (spurious) correlation between the attractiveness of one partner and the socio-economic status of the other, because attractiveness and status are correlated within persons. Socio-economic status is operationalized through years of education and occupational status (ISEI). The hypothesis are tested using ALLBUS data (2008, 2010, 2012, N = 6732). Results of the multivariate analysis (linear regression models with interviewer fixed effects) suggest that status is indeed exchanged for attractiveness in status-heterogeneous couples. The results suggest that the gender-stereotypical exchange of female attractiveness for male education is more prevalent than vice versa. However, the results also suggest that both men and women trade occupational status for attractiveness in their partners.