Most people are no strangers to stressful situations.

But a surly disposition is not the all that pressures of life will trigger in a person— in fact; they can lead men to prefer overweight women. Yes, you read it right. Women can finally feel comforted that there are men out there — the nerve-wracked kind—who don’t care about an hourglass figure. If a recent study by two British psychologists is to believed, anxious men are more likely to be drawn to fat women. The reason for this bewildering connection? According to the research, men struggling with stressful situations are more likely to be drawn to heavier members of the opposite sex because an overweight body is a sign that the person can cope well with troubles.

This conclusion complements prior studies which claim that faced with scarce resources, people are likely to prefer heavier partners because their excess weight implies access to food. But before you gullibly blame stress for why your male friend chose to marry an obese woman, ponder carefully on what these studies imply. Interestingly, it’s not personal or cultural preferences that determine the attractiveness of women for men; its negative emotions and adverse conditions that make fat women appear alluring. Rich and relaxed men are likely to ditch the fat for size zero. Alas, beauty of heavier women lies in the eye — of either a nervous wreck or a pauper.

But sarcasm aside, there’s actually a reason why such research on human behaviour, regularly published in newspapers and on websites, should be taken with a pinch of salt. The findings of these studies certainly grab attention. How can one ignore headlines like drinking water improves exam grades, depressed women are more likely to disturb their baby’s sleep and using wi-fi on a laptop may damage sperm?

Even though catchy titles entice us into reading the stories, the latter have scant mention of the scientific methodology and evidence employed by the researchers. The layman remains in the dark about many aspects: who participated in the experiment or study? Whether the study sample is statistically proportionate? How effectively can the results be generalised across time and space?

These finding, thus, are merely relegated to urban legends which people use to put two and two together. But, before you jump to the conclusion that your colleague gorges on junk food because of depression, make sure you find the actual study — not the newspaper article — to assess the credibility of your reasoning.