The study accounted for cohabitation and marriage as competing events in contrast to being single and living without a romantic partner.
It examined three possible outcomes in over 9,000 participants: marriage with or without prior cohabitation, cohabitation without subsequently getting married and neither marriage nor cohabitation.
The results show that 52 percent of married respondents and 51.7 percent of those in cohabiting relationships ending in marriage were rated as above average in physical attractiveness.
Whereas 45.9 percent of those in a cohabiting relationship without subsequent marriage and 43.6 percent in neither marriage nor cohabitation scored above average on the attractiveness scale.
