Age disparity in sexual relationships is the difference in ages of individuals in sexual relationships. Concepts of these relationships, including what defines an age disparity, have developed over time and vary among societies.


Differences in age preferences for mates can stem from evolutionary mating strategies and age preferences in sexual partners may vary cross culturally. There are also social theories for age differences in relationships as well as suggested reasons for 'alternative' age-hypogamous relationships. Age-disparity relationships have been documented for most of recorded history and have been regarded with a wide range of attitudes dependent on sociocultural norms and legal systems.


Male preference for younger females

A renounced scientist David Buss attributed the male preference for younger females to certain youthful cues. In females, relative youth and physical attractiveness (which males valued more compared to females) demonstrated cues for fertility and high reproductive capacity. Buss stated the specific age preference of around 25 years implied that fertility was a stronger ultimate cause of mate preference than reproductive value as data suggested that fertility peaks in females around mid-twenties.


From a life history theory perspective, females that display these cues are judged to be more capable of reproductive investment. This notion of age preference due to peak fertility is supported by Kenrick, Keefe, Gabrielidis, and Cornelius's study, which found that although teenage males would accept a mate slightly younger than themselves, there was a wider range of preference for ages above their own. Teenage males also report that their ideal mates would be several years older than themselves.


Buss and Schmitt stress that although long term mating relationships are common for humans, there are both short term and long term mating relationships. Buss and Schmitt provided a Sexual Strategies Theory that describes the two sexes as having evolved distinct psychological mechanisms that underlie the strategies for short and long term mating. This theory is directly relevant and compatible with those two already mentioned, Life History and Parental Investment.


Males tend to appear oriented towards short term mating (greater desire for short term mates than women, prefer larger number of sexual partners and take less time to consent to sexual intercourse) and this appears to solve a number of adaptive problems including using fewer resources to access a mate. Although there are a number of reproductive advantages to short term mating, males still pursue long term mates, and this is due to the possibility of monopolising a female's lifetime reproductive resources. Consistent with findings, for both short term and long term mates, males prefer younger females (reproductively valuable).


Female preference for older males

As they are the higher investing sex, females tend to be slightly more demanding when picking a mate (as predicted by parental investment theory). They also tend to have a more difficult task of evaluating a male's reproductive value accurately based on physical appearance as age tends to have fewer constraints on a male's reproductive resources. Buss attributed the older age preference to older males displaying characteristics of high providing-capacity such as status and resources...Read More