New studies and survey results are showing that when women choose a male mate to settle down with for life, they may want to stop looking in the GQ model arena and start looking more for the average joe computer nerd arena if they want to have a more content and happy marriage.  When women were surveyed who were more attractive then their partners, they reported being happier and more content in their marriage, as did their husbands.

So it seems that when women pick mates that are perceived to be less physically attractive than themselves, they set themselves up for a lifetime of a more peaceful and happier marriage.  Further, men who were surveyed who were more attractive than their spouses were more likely to report feeling unhappy in their marriage, and discontent.

However, when couples were surveyed where the wife was more attractive than the husband, both the man and the woman reported that they were happier in their marriage. 

Researchers think that this dichotomy is because women tend to pick men more based on their abilities to provide them with offspring and also to provide for and take care of a family, while men are programmed to look for more attractive mates who can provide them more attractive offspring, which is often equated with better health, prosperity and longevity. 

The long and the short of it is that men and women are both stereotypical in how they search for and land life mates, men go more on physical appearance, and women go more on the provider and virility factor I suppose.