It’s not just men – women are attracted to younger partners too
American study finds a preference for youth among both sexes, though they may not admit it
The plot of Nicole Kidman’s new film Babygirl – a female chief executive seduces a much-younger male intern – may be more likely than it first seems, research has found.
It has long been thought that men opt for younger partners more than women do. But a study by academics at the University of California, Davis, suggested both sexes favour younger other halves.
The study of 4,500 Americans found both men and women slightly preferred younger people when dating.
The participants went on a blind date via an American dating site which matches people who are looking for long-term love based on their interests.
Prof Paul Eastwick, lead author of the study, said: “Participants were slightly more attracted to younger partners, and this trend was equally true for men and women.
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“This preference for youth among women will be shocking to many people because, in mixed-gender couples, men tend to be older than women, plus women generally say they prefer older partners.
“But women’s preferences on the dates themselves revealed something else entirely.”
Prominent celebrity couples with an age gap have included Demi Moore, 62, and ex-husband Ashton Kutcher, 46, and Cher, 78, and rapper boyfriend Alexander Edwards, 38.
Sienna Miller, 43, last year welcomed the birth of a child with Oli Green, who is 15 years her junior.
Questioned about their relationship in Harper’s Bazaar magazine, she said: “There is a difference in the way [his] generation of men respect women.”
The Californian study, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, looked at ages ranging from 22 to 85.
Around half the participants were men and half were women, with most going on mixed-sex dates via the US-based matchmaking company Tawkify.
In answering survey questions, most reported having an upper age limit on potential partners – but the limit had no bearing on their actual choices.
The researchers also looked at whether women with higher incomes were inclined to choose younger partners.
However, there was very little evidence that income – either their date’s or their own – influenced these women’s preference for younger partners, the researchers said.
The study did not look at whether romantic attraction on a first date led to longer-term relationships.
Prof Eastwick added: “These findings suggest that men and women find youth a little more appealing in initial attraction setting – whether they know it or not.”
‘It’s not easy’
Brigitte Macron, 71, is married to Emmanuel Macron, the 47-year-old president of France.
She left her first husband, the father of her three children, for Mr Macron, one of her former students, and they married in 2007.
Speaking about their age gap, in 2019 she said: “It’s not easy when you don’t have the same age. When there is a big age gap as we have it’s even more complicated.”
Heidi Klum, the model, married German guitarist Tom Kaulitz, 35, in 2019.
Klum, now 51, has spoken publicly about their “very good” sex life, telling The Times last year that “sport en chambre” was her favourite form of exercise.
Sam Taylor-Johnson, the 57-year-old British artist and director, met her husband Aaron, 34, in 2009 on the set of John Lennon biopic Nowhere Boy, when he was 19. The couple married in 2012 and have two daughters.
In April last year, she said she could not “fathom” the “fascination” people had with the 23-year age gap.
“I guess people want to understand things when they can’t,” she said. “They want to pick apart when they can’t fathom what a certain love story that doesn’t fit in a box is.”