Most people prefer to have sex with partners of the same age range, and that includes men too, says a study that challenges the common assumption that men – regardless of their age — remain interested only in young women.
Men become interested in older women as they themselves age, said the study.
The finding, published in the journal Evolutionary Psychology, suggests that when it comes to sexual partners, the difference between men and women with respect to their age preferences is smaller than earlier believed.
While earlier research had indicated that even older men prefer young women, the new study by Jan Antfolk at Abo Akademi University in Turku, Finland suggests that this is only partly true.
The study was conducted in Finland and included 878 adult men and 1,789 adult women.
“Over the investigated age span, women reported a narrower age range than men and women tended to prefer slightly older men,” the study found.
“We also show that men’s age range widens as they get older: While they continue to consider sex with young women, men also consider sex with women their own age or older,” said the study.
The research concluded that contrary to earlier suggestions, men’s sexual activity thus reflects also their own age range, and their potential interest in younger women is not likely converted into sexual activity.
Most sexual activity occurs between partners of approximately the same age, the study said.
Additionally, the research showed that homosexual and bisexual men and women differ very little from their heterosexual counterparts.
The only exception from this is that homosexual men are somewhat more likely than bisexual and heterosexual men to have sex with partners younger than themselves.
