Why Is Age So Important in Human Mating? Evolved Age Preferences and Their Influences on Multiple Mating Behaviors
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Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences © 2018 American Psychological Association 2019, Vol. 13, No. 2, 127–157 2330-2925/19/$12.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ebs0000127 Why Is Age So Important in Human Mating? Evolved Age Preferences and Their Influences on Multiple Mating Behaviors Daniel Conroy-Beam David M. Buss University of California, Santa Barbara University of Texas, Austin Evolutionary theorizing suggests that chronological age, because it is so strongly linked with key reproductive qualities like fertility, should be an exceptionally consequential variable in mate selection. We review voluminous evidence for mate preferences for age and the substantial and varied behavioral sequelae of those preferences. These include (a) in actual marriage decisions, men choose younger wives, and women choose older husbands, on average in all of the dozens of cultures studied; (b) in personal advertisements, men and women seek partners consistent with their expressed age preferences; (c) chronological age determines number of “hits” received in online dating services; (d) the age of potential bride influences the amount of money spent on premarriage customs; (e) men’s mate retention effort, including commitment manipu- lation, resource provisioning, and intrasexual threats, is significantly predicted by the wife’s age; and (f) chronological age is an important sex-linked cause of divorce. The far-reaching ramifications of age also extend to (g) tactics of intrasexual competition, (h) predictors of mate value discrepancies, (i) victims of sex crimes, and (j) prostitution patterns. Finally, chronological age predicts (k) probability of remarriage, and (l) the age gap between grooms and brides upon remarriage. We synthesize evidence from diverse methods, across different cultures, and over time spans of centuries. Massive converging evidence provides a powerful, yet complex, understanding of the evolu- tionary importance of age in multiple mating outcomes over the human life span. Public Significance Statement We review the voluminous evidence that people express ideal preferences for the age of their potential mate and act on these preferences in mate selection. This review speaks to an ongoing debate in the human mating literature concerning the importance of ideal preferences for real mating behavior. Further, it serves to highlight the many domains of life into which mating spreads its influence. Keywords: age, mate preferences, mate selection, mating behavior, evolutionary psychology Age is a peculiar, yet singularly important, people can be arrayed on this variable. It carries attribute of humans. Everyone has an age, so all special social significance in many contexts— the benevolent or condescending treatment of youth; the social hierarchies constructed on “re- This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. specting elders;” the social segregation by age This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and isThis not to be disseminated broadly. article was published Online First August 9, 2018. in most or all cultures; the social invisibility of Daniel Conroy-Beam, Department of Psychological and the young or old depending on culture and con- Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara; text; and its frequent occurrence in everyday David M. Buss, Department of Psychology, University of discourse, ranging from exhorting people to Texas, Austin. We thank Kelly Asao, Leif Kennair, Frank Mann, Anna “act their age” to derogatory comments about Sedlacek, and Joy Wyckoff for helpful comments on an people being either immature or “over the hill.” earlier version of this article. No one, it seems, is indifferent to age. Correspondence concerning this article should be ad- From an evolutionary perspective, age takes dressed to Daniel Conroy-Beam, Department of Psycholog- ical and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa on special conceptual significance because so Barbara, CA, 93106. E-mail: [email protected] many elements that contribute to mate value 127 128 CONROY-BEAM AND BUSS covary with age. Among them are pubescence, documented worldwide across cultures and over fertility, senescence of reproductive organs, time, are meaningless psychological quirks; (b) physical size, emotional maturity, social status, that people who adopt tactics of mate attraction, and abilities to acquire reproductively relevant tactics of derogation of competitors, and tactics resources—life history variables of profound of mate retention that correspond to the per- importance. These age-graded elements are core ceived mate preferences of the opposite sex are to association value, such as kin value and co- deluded because those tactics lack efficacy in alitional value. Perhaps most important, they attracting mates or besting mating rivals; and (c) are core to mate value and make age central to that humans are the sole known sexually repro- human mating (Symons, 1979; Williams, 1975). ducing species, alone among the millions of Empirical evidence across research labs, sexually reproducing species on Earth, that lack methods, cultures, and time establish age as a functional preferences for potential mating part- key variable in mate preferences and mate se- ners. lections. That people readily and reliably track Here we provide an in-depth examination of and store their age makes age an empirically the role of mate preferences in driving human tractable variable. Age has all of the features of behavior by focusing on ideal mate preferences a model variable for studying mate preferences for age. Several foundational articles have es- and mate choice more broadly. Yet age has tablished that age preferences act to guide hu- received relatively little attention from mating man mate choice (e.g., Buss, 1989; Kenrick & researchers compared to variables like physical Keefe, 1992). In the more than a quarter century attractiveness, for which there are hundreds of since these articles, numerous empirical find- empirical studies. ings have been published, so it is timely to do a Cross-cultural research demonstrates that hu- stock-taking and more extensive conceptual in- mans appear to have universal mate prefer- tegration. We expand on these classic articles in ences, including those for the age of potential two critical ways. First, we review the volumi- mates (e.g., Bech-Sorensen & Pollet, 2016; nous but previously unexamined evidence, ac- Buss, 1989; Kenrick & Keefe, 1992). These cumulated prior to and since the publication of preferences were originally hypothesized to these original articles, from across cultures and function in guiding people to adaptive mate across centuries, that bears on the hypothesis choices—a fundamental domain of life for sex- that humans select mates based on ideal prefer- ually reproducing organisms. However, they ences for age. also should have implications for a wide array Second, we expand on prior discussions of of downstream behavioral outcomes, such as age preferences by reviewing bodies of litera- tactics of attraction, selection of mates as a ture that connect age preferences to a wide array function of mate value, determinants of mate of real-world outcomes. These include self- retention, likelihood of experiencing sexual ha- reported ideal preferences, personal advertise- rassment, probability of divorce, and a host of ments, and marriage data but also the effects of other important life outcomes. age preferences on gift giving, prostitution, re- As a secondary issue, the study of age mate lationship dissolution, mate guarding, criminal preferences and their consequences have a crit- behavior, remarriage patterns, and deception ical bearing on a recent debate that has emerged (see Figure 1). This synthetic review under- in the scientific literature. Some have chal- scores the broad importance of mating and mate This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. lenged the view that mate preferences are con- preferences to human behavior. This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly. sequential in driving mating decisions. They To frame this treatment, we first discuss the have advanced the view that mate choice is hypothesized functions of preferences broadly, more or less random with respect to preferences and then specifically within the mating domain. (e.g., Eastwick, Luchies, Finkel, & Hunt, 2014; We then move into theoretical background con- for counter arguments and evidence, see Li & cerning the importance of age before reviewing Meltzer, 2015; Li et al., 2013). If this view were empirical evidence establishing that males and correct, it would undermine the scientific im- females have distinct preferences for ages in portance of mate preferences and would lead particular mates. Finally, we examine this key logically to three surprising conclusions: (a) question: Do age mate preferences drive actual that consensually expressed mate preferences, mating behavior in its many domains? AGE PREFERENCES IN MATES 129 Figure 1. The broad impacts of age mate preferences. Why Have Preferences? environmental input. People can learn to enjoy bitter or spicy flavors depending on what is Preferences are effective tools for solving available in their local environment—mate decision making problems. Across domains, or- preference mechanisms also have important en- ganisms face problems wherein they must select vironmental