Happy wife, happy life? Not anymore -- a new study suggests it’s an attractive wife that leads to a satisfying marriage.

In the study, which was recently published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, psychologist Andrea Meltzer tracked over 450 newlywed couples during the course of four years and posed the question: does a good-looking spouse lead to a more satisfying union?

What Meltzer and her team discovered was that spousal attractiveness does play a major role in marital satisfaction -- but only for men. In other words, men care about looks more than women do.

The authors write, "The significant effect of wives’ attractiveness on husbands’ satisfaction was significantly stronger than the nonsignificant effect of husbands’ attractiveness on wives’ satisfaction, indicating that partner physical attractiveness played a larger role in predicting husbands’ marital satisfaction than it did in predicting wives’ marital satisfaction."

Interestingly, the attractive wives also reported higher levels of satisfaction, all because having a happy hubby made them happier too.

A study conducted in 2008 at the Relationship Institute at UCLA reached a similar finding. Researchers theorized that men who felt they "lucked out" by marrying attractive wives were happier and more likely to care about their wives' needs -- and in turn, the good-looking wives were happier in the relationship as well.

“The husbands seemed to be basically more committed, more invested in pleasing their wives when they felt that they were getting a pretty good deal,” study author Benjamin Karney explained.

Karney said the opposite occurred when the husbands felt they were better looking than their wives, explaining, "They didn’t seem to be quite as motivated to help out their wives when they were more attractive than their wives."

What do you think, do you agree with the "hot wife, better life" theory? Sound off below.

Then, check out the slideshow for more fascinating marriage findings.

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• Online Gaming Can Hurt Your Marriage

  According to a Brigham Young University study, couples reported a href="http://healthland.time.com/2012/02/16/is-online-gaming-messing-up-your-marriage/"lower marital satisfaction/a when one spouse's gaming interfered with bedtime routines. Seventy-five percent of gamers' spouses wished their partners would put more effort into their marriages; however, when both spouses gamed, a majority reported greater satisfaction in their relationships.

• The "Honeymoon Phase" Is A Myth

  It turns out couples are happiest a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/04/marriage-research_n_2234804.html?utm_hp_ref=marriage"AFTER their first year of marriage/a, according to an Australian study. Newlyweds were found to have a lower happiness score than couples who had been married longer. Researcher Melissa Weinberg attributed this to a "wedding hangover," or the depressed feeling couples get when the wedding is over and the marriage begins.

• Getting Angry Can Help Your Relationship

  Florida State University researchers discovered that short-term angry discussions can a href="http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-08-21/news/33307414_1_relationships-forgiveness-successful-marriage"actually be beneficial/a. Getting angry can help signal that certain behavior from your partner is unacceptable, said lead researcher James McNulty.

• Cohabitating Couples Shown To Be Happier Than Married Couples

  A study released in January found that while married couples exhibited health gains (most likely due to marriage benefits such as shared health plans), unmarried cohabitating couples experienced a href="http://news.health.com/2012/01/23/living-together-may-be-mentally-healthier-than-marriage-study/" target="_hplink"greater happiness and self-esteem/a.
  Clarification: Language has been amended in this slide to represent more accurately the findings of the report.

• The Later You Have Sex, The Better Your Relationships

  Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin found that having sexual intercourse at a later age corresponded with a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/10/19/virginity-and-marriage-_n_1981755.html?just_reloaded=1"less dissatisfaction with relationships/a in adulthood. Higher education level and household income also corresponded to a later age of first sexual experience.

• Interracial Marriage Rates And Acceptance Rising

  Not only are a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/16/us/interracial-marriage/index.html"more interracial couples marrying/a, but interracial marriage is more widely accepted than ever before. In 2010, 15 percent of new marriages in the U.S. were between spouses of different races; in 1980, only 6.7 percent of marriages were interracial.

• Married People Are Healthier, Live Longer Than Singles

  a href="http://cleveland.cbslocal.com/2012/11/14/study-married-couples-live-longer-healthier-lives-than-singles/"Studies show/a that married couples experience lower levels of cancer, heart disease, depression and stress. The health benefits are even more pronounced for marrieds than for couples who are simply cohabiting.

• Young People Expect Marriages To Last

  A survey found that 86 percent of single and married people aged 18-29 a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/17/marriage-expectations_n_1784371.html"expect their marriages/a to last a lifetime. Researcher Jeffrey Jensen Arnett told HuffPost that young people tend to have a romantic view of marriage and go into marriage determined to make it work.

• Married Women Drink More Than Single Women

  A a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/20/marriage-alcohol-study-wives-drink-single-women_n_1810133.html"study on marriage and alcohol/a found that women drink more after getting married, possibly because they are influenced by their husbands (on average, men drink more than women). Men, on the other hand, were found to drink less after getting hitched.

• Son-In-Law Key To Successful Marriage

  Here's another reason to get along with your in-laws -- unless you're a woman, that is. A a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/27/in-laws-and-marriage_n_2199637.html"26-year longitudinal study/a found that when a husband reported having a close relationship with his wife's parents, the couple's risk of divorce decreased by 20 percent. Conversely, when a wife reported having a close relationship with her husband's parents, the couple's risk of divorce increased by 20 percent.

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