Men Are Hardwired To Desire Women In Their 20s Says New Study

A new study recently published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior, concludes that when it comes to preferences for a sexual partner, men of all ages want a 20-something year old woman. However, preference actually differed from reality, as most men often went for what was available when the desirable is not possible.

12,656 men and women aged 18 to 49 were surveyed by researchers from Finland to study age preferences in sexual partners. They asked each participant about which age group they were most sexually attracted to during the last 12 months and which age group they actually engaged in sexual activity with. To the first question, men and women differed;


Men tended to be interested in one single age group: women in their mid-twenties. This held true even in younger men in their late teens or early twenties.

On the other hand, women tended to be interested in men who were similar in age or slightly older. Specifically, women in their late teens and twenties prefer male partners who are about four years older, and the age gap preference lessens as women get older.

As to  the researchers' second question, which asked if males and females are engaging in sexual activity with partners in their preferred age group? The researchers wrote again, that the results differed by gender.

"While women reported similar patterns of sexual interest and sexual activity with regard to men’s age, men reported dissimilar patterns of sexual interest and sexual activity with regard to women’s age." 

Researchers argue that both male and female age preferences have roots in evolutionary biology.

The researchers believe that men's sexual preference is shaped with offspring in mind; specifically, they are interested in women who are fertile.

"The highest fertility has been estimated to occur in the mid-twenties, with a decline after the age of 35. Especially for short-term mating, men show a high interest in fertile women, that is, women in their twenties."

The researchers think women go for older men due to the "resources" they can offer, including the ability to help with offspring: "Men mature later than woman and in our evolutionary past, raising human offspring to nutritional independence necessitated bi-parental care."

But haven't we heard all these before?

H/T Huff Po