Most Straight Men are Attracted to Women in Mid-Twenties: Study

Most straight men are interested in women in their mid-twenties while, women find men of the same age sexually attractive, according to a study.

When it comes to relationships many couples agree that age can be just a number. But, a new research by the Academy of Finland found age influences the sexual preference of men and women differently. The experts used data from a population study of over 12,000 Finnish participants on the look out for partners, their age and other attributes, reports the Time.

It observed women were mostly interested in pursuing sexual relations with men of the same age. Majority of heterosexual men of all age groups expressed they preferred women in early or mid-twenties.

These findings are similar to the results of a survey by an online dating website known as OKCupid. The researchers related the observations to an evolutionary theory that holds women are generally more choosey about their mating partners and most men want younger women with whom they are likely to have more children.

"Men and women have different preferences regarding the age of their sexual partners and women's preferences are better realised than are men's," said Abo Akademi, study author and researcher in psychology from the University in Turku, Finland, reports the IANS.

"Men's actual behaviour follows more closely women's preferences than men's own preferences. The findings reflect that in our evolutionary past, men who have had sex with women in their mid-20s have had more offspring than other men," write the authors in the study.

More information is available online in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior.