Why men prefer younger women
Why men prefer younger women
It's the drive for more offspring, which also leads women to older men, says researchers
PARIS - TO HAVE the most children, men should find a partner six years younger, and women, a mate four years older, Austrian researchers have said.
The researchers have used evolution to explain why men often prefer younger women and what typically drives women's desire for older men.
Evolutionary pressure - the drive to have more children, in short - is what causes the typical age gap among couples, says the study, which appears in the British journal Biology Letters.
Written by Mr Martin Fieder, an anthropologist at the University of Vienna, and Ms Susanne Huber, a wildlife ecologist at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, the study explored the theory that men go for younger, sexually attractive women in order to boost their chances of reproductive success, while women prefer older, successful men to provide the resources and security that increase their offspring's chance of survival.
The study was the first to quantify the age difference that results in the most children, said Mr Fieder. 'Nobody has shown before that this has consequences for the number of offspring,' he said. 'We have shown for the first time this is the case.'
The investigators trawled through a Swedish population database, covering 11,500 men and women born between 1945 and 1955, to see the age at which they became parents.
They found that relationships in which the man was four to six years older than the woman produced the most children - an average of 2.2.
When they picked partners of the same age, couples had an average of 2.1 children. The difference is significant in evolutionary terms that accumulates over time, Mr Fieder said.
The findings are the result of a statistical analysis and do not mean that every man can find a woman six years younger and that every woman would find a man four years older.
When the researchers examined couples who split up and mated again, they found that each opted for partners who were younger than the first.
That was especially so for older men, who went for women who were much younger. Women looking for a new mate generally chose a male who was slightly older than herself.
The finding regarding men was expected but that women also traded in for a younger partner was surprising, said Mr Fieder.
He suggested that because women are older when finding a second partner, they look for a younger, more fertile man.
'The age preference for the partner increases individual (reproductive) fitness of both men and women,' say the authors, who speculate that this trait has been acquired through millennia of evolution.
It's the drive for more offspring, which also leads women to older men, says researchers
PARIS - TO HAVE the most children, men should find a partner six years younger, and women, a mate four years older, Austrian researchers have said.
The researchers have used evolution to explain why men often prefer younger women and what typically drives women's desire for older men.
Evolutionary pressure - the drive to have more children, in short - is what causes the typical age gap among couples, says the study, which appears in the British journal Biology Letters.
Written by Mr Martin Fieder, an anthropologist at the University of Vienna, and Ms Susanne Huber, a wildlife ecologist at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, the study explored the theory that men go for younger, sexually attractive women in order to boost their chances of reproductive success, while women prefer older, successful men to provide the resources and security that increase their offspring's chance of survival.
The study was the first to quantify the age difference that results in the most children, said Mr Fieder. 'Nobody has shown before that this has consequences for the number of offspring,' he said. 'We have shown for the first time this is the case.'
The investigators trawled through a Swedish population database, covering 11,500 men and women born between 1945 and 1955, to see the age at which they became parents.
They found that relationships in which the man was four to six years older than the woman produced the most children - an average of 2.2.
When they picked partners of the same age, couples had an average of 2.1 children. The difference is significant in evolutionary terms that accumulates over time, Mr Fieder said.
The findings are the result of a statistical analysis and do not mean that every man can find a woman six years younger and that every woman would find a man four years older.
When the researchers examined couples who split up and mated again, they found that each opted for partners who were younger than the first.
That was especially so for older men, who went for women who were much younger. Women looking for a new mate generally chose a male who was slightly older than herself.
The finding regarding men was expected but that women also traded in for a younger partner was surprising, said Mr Fieder.
He suggested that because women are older when finding a second partner, they look for a younger, more fertile man.
'The age preference for the partner increases individual (reproductive) fitness of both men and women,' say the authors, who speculate that this trait has been acquired through millennia of evolution.
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