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Men with broader faces are more likely to be identified as dominant, research shows (library image)

If you're a man who struggles to get his own way at home, it may be down to the shape of your face.

Men with narrower skulls are less likely to be regarded as dominant than those with wider ones, a study has found.

Psychologists from Stirling University asked volunteers to look at photographs of students with neutral expressions and rate the dominance of their personality.

They also photographed the volunteers and asked them to fill out a questionnaire about their own levels of authority.

The research revealed a strong link between the breadth of a man's face compared to its height, and how dominant he was considered by himself and others. The same could not be said of women.

Writing in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, the study's lead author Viktoria Mileva said that others' perception of men with broad faces could lead them to believe they are dominant.

But she added: 'It is also possible that men with a higher width to height ratio act inherently more dominant, perhaps as a result of increased testosterone.'

'One potential mechanism which may explain why fWHR affects male self-perceptions of dominance is how others behave towards them.

'If certain behavioural qualities which signal dominance, such as achievement drive, aggression and cheating and trustworthiness are visible in people's faces through their fWHR, as our study one suggests, then actions towards these individuals may differ.

'This could in turn lead to altered behaviour from the faces' owners in response to how they are treated by others.

'However, it is also possible that men with a higher fWHR act and feel inherently more dominant, perhaps as a result of increased testosterone'.

Previous studies have found that men with wider faces are more likely to be seen as aggressive, but also more attractive for short-term relationships.

Previous studies have found that men with wider faces are more likely to be seen as aggressive, but also more attractive for short-term relationships (library image)