pray for a return to the Seventies fashion of stack heels, for the power of jealousy depends on how tall you are, the British weekly New Scientist says.

    Researchers at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and University of Valencia in Spain asked 549 Dutch and Spanish men and women to rate how jealous they felt, and to list the qualities in a romantic competitor that were most likely to make them ill at ease.

    Men generally felt most nervous about attractive, rich and strong rivals.

    But these feelings were increasingly relaxed the taller they were themselves. The more vertically challenged the man, the greater his feelings of jealousy.

    For women, what counted most in jealousy was the rival's looks and charm, but these feelings were less intense if the woman herself was of average height.

    This makes sense in evolutionary terms, says New Scientist, in next Saturday's issue.

    Taller men are most successful with women, and women of medium height enjoy the best health, fertility and popularity with men.

    On the other hand, a woman of average height could in certain circumstances fall afoul of the green-eyed monster if their rival were taller.

    "Taller women are more dominant and have greater fighting abilities than shorter women," says the study, which appears in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior.

    荷蘭格羅寧根大學及西班牙巴倫西亞大學的研究人員讓549名荷蘭和西班牙的男性和女性給自己的忌妒程度評分，并列出情敵身上最讓他們感到不安的特點。

    研究發現，男性一般最“怕”強壯、富有、有吸引力的競爭對手。

    但隨著身高的增加，這種忌妒情緒會逐漸減弱。個子越矮的男性忌妒心越強。

    對于女性而言，情敵的長相和魅力程度是影響她們忌妒情緒的最重要因素，但相對而言，中等身高女性的妒忌心沒那么強烈。

    將于下周六出版的《新科學家》雜志稱，這從進化論角度也是解釋得通的。

    身材高大的男性最受女性青睞，中等身高的女性健康狀況和生育能力最好，同時也最受男性歡迎。

    從另一方面來說，中等身高的女性如遇到比自己個子高的情敵，在某些情況下也會心生妒火。

    該研究結果在《進化與人類行為》期刊上發表。研究稱：“個子較高的女性更具控制力，她們的‘競爭能力’比身材嬌小的女性更強。”