Parental age difference and offspring count in humans

Author:

Fieder Martin1,Huber Susanne2

Affiliation:

1. Department of Anthropology, University of ViennaAethanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria

2. Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology, University of Veterinary Medicine ViennaSavoyenstrasse 1, 1160 Vienna, Austria

Abstract

Preferences for certain age characteristics of partners are reported across cultures: men prefer mates who are younger and women prefer mates older than themselves. To examine whether these age preferences entail fitness effects for men and women, we investigated the association among age differences between partners and offspring count. On the basis of a sample of approximately 10 000 post-reproductive Swedish men and women who did not change their partner between the birth of their first and last child, we find maximum offspring count in men if their partner is approximately 6 years younger, and in women if their partner is approximately 4 years older. We further find that after separation, on average, both men and women shift to a partner younger than the first, albeit in women the new partner is still older than the female herself. We conclude that the age preference for the partner yields fitness benefits for both men and women and may thus be an evolutionarily acquired trait.

Publisher

The Royal Society

Subject

General Agricultural and Biological Sciences,Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous)

Reference9 articles.

1. Sex differences in human mate preferences: Evolutionary hypotheses tested in 37 cultures

2. Buss D.M. 1994 Evolution of desire. New York NY:Basic Books.

3. Strategies of human mating;Buss D.M;Psychol. Top,2006

4. Increased Infertility With Age in Men and Women

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