Say Cheese! It May Save Your Marriage

Photos snapped on picture day during school may reveal more than just who lost teeth in the second grade.

Kids with the biggest grins in their yearbook pictures are much more likely to have successful marriages than those whose smiles are weak, the New York Daily News reported.

Associate professor of psychology Matt Hertenstein said a new study, conducted by students at DePauw University, "found a link between weak smiles and divorce."

"It feeds into this idea that what's occurring earlier in our lives in terms of our present situation and our mental state can predict things that occur decades later,” Hertenstein told LiveScience.

To test the theory, researchers rated smile intensities in a collection of yearbook photos from one to 10, the News reported.  They found that none of the highest 10 percent of smilers had divorced, while about one in four of the bottom 10 percent had.

An additional test, in which people over 65 produced photos from their childhood, concluded that only 11 percent of those with the biggest smiles in their photos had been divorced.  Thirty-one percent of people who kept a straight-face in their photos experienced failed marriages.

The combined stats revealed that people who frown in childhood photos are five times more likely to get a divorce than those who show their pearly whites. 

Contact Us