Caveman mentality? Men peak at 50 on dating apps while women's desirability peaks at 18 and then falls, new study finds
According to a new study that was published in the journal 'Science Advances' has observed the sexual desirability of men and women looking for straight partners.
As reported by 'The New York Times', in order to be able to quantify their subjects desirability, researchers were made to follow around 200,000 users on a popular, free online dating service for a one month period and keep a track of the messages they received. With the data that they received, the researchers were able to determine women and men's sexual desirability and when it was at its peak.
They reported that men's sexual desirability peaks at the age of 50 while women's sexual desirability peaks at the age of 18 "and falls from there". Associate professor of sociology at the University of Michigan and an author of the study, Elizabeth Bruch shared, "The age gradient for women definitely surprised us — both in terms of the fact that it steadily declined from the time women were 18 to the time they were 65, and also how steep it was".
A 2010 study which was shared by a popular dating site called OkCupid came to the conclusion that a majority of men aged 22 to 30 using their services were looking for women younger than them. According to some theories, this is because of biological desires.
Movies and real life may have shown you by now what this study has found out. Dating patterns change as you grow older. Age gaps of 10-20 years between couples are now the norm. Research shows how women are said to be in their prime around the ages of 18-20 while men tend to go lower down on the desirability scale in their late 30s. Here's the distortion in this case. It is definitely easier for say a 45-year-old man to find a younger woman to date than for a 45-year-old woman finding a man to date. And a 45-year-old man looking for an older woman is quite rare. Older men, studies show, would rather spend their time and energy behind a woman way younger to them than look at someone within their own age group. But with women, that isn't so. They are open to dating both reasonably younger and older men and they are known to look for partners roughly around their ages.
A developmental psychologist, Michelle Drouin who focuses on technology and relationships was not surprised at the results of the study as they "align with evolutionary theories of mating" in which youth suggests fertility, she explained. Drouin also explained that there are theories which suggest that "men are just less interested in earning potential or power, and more interested in physical attractiveness".
Bruch explained that a man's desirability increased with the more education he had. For women, that sort of benefit/ advantage ended with an undergraduate degree and a postgraduate education made them less desirable. Bruch shared, "Preferences coupled with the availability of partners may drive the patterns we see in our paper".
Michelle added that the educational dynamic could also be related to "beliefs that higher degrees among women translate into more work commitment and less relationship and family commitment". She went on to explain that people looking for partners online reflect a sense of aspiration which is not necessarily what people want in real life.
"In the real world, the woman with a graduate degree who knows your favorite Kerouac passage, speaks a few languages or discovers new ways to cure disease might be undeniably attractive. Think of Amal Clooney," she continued.
One of the main findings of the study was the fact that most of the users sent messages to people who were much more desirable than themselves. "These messages sent by online daters can be likened to slot machine play in Vegas. Little investment on the front end might pay out big on the back end — so why not opt for a chance at the biggest win?"