Question: "Ugly Kids Get Less Attention from Parents," reported in the University of Alberta's online medical news site, states that a researcher "has shown that parents are more likely to give better care and pay closer attention to goodlooking children compared to unattractive ones."A team of researchers observed over 400 2- to 5-year-old children with their parents in supermarkets, and independently assessed the children's attractiveness. "Findings showed that 1.2 percent of the least attractive children were buckled in, compared with 13.3 percent of the most attractive youngsters." Because this was an observational study, we cannot rule out the possibility of causation in the opposite direction: Perhaps children's attractiveness is influenced by their parents' attentiveness.