Age difference is key to having most kids: study

[JODO 2]

Age difference is key to having most kids: study By Michael Kahn

Tue Aug 28, 9:16 PM ET

To have the most children, men should find a partner six years younger and women a mate four years older, Austrian researchers said on Wednesday.

The researchers tried to use evolution to explain why men often prefer younger women and what typically drives women's desire for older men, said their leader, Vienna University anthropologist Martin Fieder.

While it is no surprise to hear that men pick younger women to bolster their reproductive fitness and that women choose older partners for security, the study is the first to quantify the age difference that results in the most children, he said.

"Nobody has shown before this has consequences for the number of offspring," Fieder said in a telephone interview. "We have shown for the first time this is the case."

The researchers wanted to find the most beneficial ages for both men and women to have the most offspring, so looked at the data with that in mind and came out with different numbers for each.

Writing in the Royal Society's Biology Letters on Wednesday, the researchers said they collected information from Swedish national registries to track the number of births and age of parents going back 55 years.

The researchers looked at men and women who did not change their partners between the birth of their first and last child and found the age differences among couples that produced the most offspring.

For both men and women, having a partner of the optimal age meant having an average of 2.2 children compared with 2.1 children when they picked partners of the same age -- a significant number in evolutionary terms that accumulates over time, Fieder said.

The findings are the result of a statistical analysis and do not mean that every man can find a woman six years younger and that every women would find a man four years older.

"It was a very systemic pattern," Fieder said. "We don't think it is random."

The study of couples during their typical child-bearing years also showed that both men and women who changed partners usually chose a person younger than the one they had before for their second one, Fieder said.

The finding regarding men was expected but that women also traded in for a younger partner was surprising, said Fieder. He suggested that because women are older when finding a second partner, they look for a younger, more fertile man.

"This holds true both for men and women: men shift to a much younger partner; women shift to a partner less old than the first," the researchers wrote.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070829/hl_nm/...Bcg.49358e9j7AB

[Scott & Lai 12]

To have the most children, men should find a partner six years younger and women a mate four years older

Seems that would produce the least children.....A 40 year old man should find a partner 6 years younger than he - 34. But the 34 year old woman should find a 38 year old man.... so, they will never end up together = zero children....

[Sister Fracas 5]

To have the most children, men should find a partner six years younger and women a mate four years older

Seems that would produce the least children.....A 40 year old man should find a partner 6 years younger than he - 34. But the 34 year old woman should find a 38 year old man.... so, they will never end up together = zero children....

yeah, I was thinking the same thing...

[almaty 19]

those old horn dogs..cannot get enough living their fantasy...

[Mephys 2]

To have the most children, men should find a partner six years younger and women a mate four years older

Seems that would produce the least children.....A 40 year old man should find a partner 6 years younger than he - 34. But the 34 year old woman should find a 38 year old man.... so, they will never end up together = zero children....

exactly my thoughts

[Jasman0717 9]

To have the most children, men should find a partner six years younger and women a mate four years older

Seems that would produce the least children.....A 40 year old man should find a partner 6 years younger than he - 34. But the 34 year old woman should find a 38 year old man.... so, they will never end up together = zero children....

Excellent birth control

[JanaknJanet 1]

and just think... how much money was spent on that study...

augh.. just another piece of useless information that probably cost many tax persons in some country more than was necessary

[Marilyn. 340]

and just think... how much money was spent on that study...

augh.. just another piece of useless information that probably cost many tax persons in some country more than was necessary

yeah and people are worried about free lunches for the kids

[tom&tata 2]

and just think... how much money was spent on that study...

augh.. just another piece of useless information that probably cost many tax persons in some country more than was necessary

yeah and people are worried about free lunches for the kids

The study was done on Swedish population (if I read correctly).

[SteveLaura 0]

How should we characterise the Swedes?

Very poor at Maths.

[Marilyn. 340]

and just think... how much money was spent on that study...

augh.. just another piece of useless information that probably cost many tax persons in some country more than was necessary

yeah and people are worried about free lunches for the kids

The study was done on Swedish population (if I read correctly).

oops

[tom&tata 2]

and just think... how much money was spent on that study...

augh.. just another piece of useless information that probably cost many tax persons in some country more than was necessary

yeah and people are worried about free lunches for the kids

The study was done on Swedish population (if I read correctly).

oops

Hopefully it does not give ideas to the US researcher though. I'd rather have the free lunches than this study on US population

[Sister Fracas 5]

How should we characterise the Swedes?

Very poor at Maths.

[garya505 2]

I'm 56 and wife 30. How many kids will we have?

[Sister Fracas 5]

I'm 56 and wife 30. How many kids will we have?

-12