The parent trap

They say men marry their mothers, while women seek partners who remind them of their fathers.

Now a study indicates that the adage is true - at least when it comes to looks.

Men and women are more likely to marry someone who has the same hair and eye colours as their own opposite-sex parent, according to the research.

Catherine Zeta Jones's father, Dai, has a definite air of her husband, Michael Douglas. And Nigella Lawson's boyfriend, Charles Saatchi, bears a remarkable resemblance to her father, Lord Lawson.

The research, by psychologists at the University of St Andrews, Fife, involved 700 volunteers aged from 18 to 67. Each was quizzed about the eye and hair colour of their parents and their partner.

The experts were startled to find that men were particularly attracted to women who had the same colour hair and eyes as their mothers.

Women were significantly more likely to have partners with the same colouring as their fathers.

Dr Anthony Little, who led the research, published this week in the journal Evolution and Human Behaviour, said: 'It's quite well known in psychology that if you are constantly exposed to an image, it becomes more attractive.

'Since we obviously see a lot of our parents as we are growing up, we decided to look and see if they had an effect on the people we find attractive later in life.'

Dr Little said the findings were surprising. 'They showed that people choose partners that resemble their opposite-sex parent over and above any effects of their own colouring, or their same-sex parent's colouring.

'We aren't saying this is the be-all and end-all, and clearly lots of different things influence our choice of partners.

'But people really don't expect hair and eye colour of their parents to have a great deal of impact on their choice of partners. It is quite a subtle effect, but it is definitely there. It is intriguing.'

Another example is that of Ben Mee, a 37-year-old writer and his 36-year- old partner Katherine Carnegie, of North London.

'My mother, Amelia, had short hair, like Katherine, when I met her - and similar eyes and physique,' said Mr Mee. 'Thinking about it now, all my serious girl-friends were brunettes. But I wouldn't like anyone to suggest that I was attracted to Katherine because she looked like my mum.

'When we met, I had a powerful feeling that we had to be together. My earliest memories of Mum were of perfume and a long necklace-Katherine loves jewellery and perfume.

'Their temperaments are similar - caring, patient and artistic. They have similar ways of dealing with my Dad and I, putting up with tetchiness until the mood passes.' Katherine, a designer, said: 'When I met Amelia, I wasn't struck by any physical resemblance. But I can see the similarity in pictures of her when she was younger. We have similar personalities.'

In a separate study, Dr Little and his team also found that people with older parents tended to be attracted to older partners. Fifty volunteers were asked to rate for attractiveness faces showing people in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s.

'We found that people who had older parents preferred older-looking faces,' said Dr Little.

Research suggests daughters of older fathers do tend to have older partners, and children in mixed race marriages are more likely to marry someone of the same race as their opposite-sex parent.

Just why our parents influence our choice of partners is not clear. One theory is that people simply respond more positively to things that are familiar.

Pairing off with partners who have genetic similarities to ourselves, indicated by hair and eye colour, may have genetic benefits.

Separate research carried out at the Institute of Psychiatry in London supports the theory.

Dr Glen Wilson found that 40 per cent of people could pick out a man's wife by looking at photos of his mother at the same age.

He believes it is how a woman looks when her son is between the ages of one and three that holds the key to his later preferences.