Why Women have Sexual Affairs in early 30’s (article)

note: more data from the trenches of the battles of the sexes. Biologists think it all baby driven. I’m sure that is partly true, and partly soul-driven desire for completion. But interesting how male-female demographics tilt the probability of affairs…Michael

WOMEN HAVE AFFAIRS IN EARLY 30S ‘TO MAXIMISE CHANCES OF REPRODUCING’, SAY
SCIENTISTS
By Richard Alleyne
The Telegraph
November 27, 2008

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/science/sciencenews/3526294/
Women-have-affairs-in-early-30s-to-maximise-chances-of-reproducing-say-scien
tists.html

Researchers have discovered that women — unlike many men — instinctively
prefer a monogamous relationship, mainly because they need help bringing up
any resultant children.

But if they do stray it’s more likely to be when they enter their 30s as
their biological clock starts ticking.

Much like many celebrities, such as Kate Beckinsale and Amanda Holden, they
perceive the age to be the beginning of their last chance for them to secure
a good man to father their children.

It also coincides with them reaching their sexual peak and when they are
most likely to have the most opportunities to have an affair.

The conclusion made by Dr David Schmitt of Bradley University, Illinois, was
made after he collected data on the sexual habits of women from 48 countries
across the world.

He found that while men’s “sociosexuality” or promiscuousness peaks in their
late 20s, women are most likely to be unfaithful to their partners in their
early 30s.

Dr Schmitt told New Scientist that women were more likely to have an affair
when their fertility first begins to wane.

“That’s exactly the point where the odds of conceiving start to drop at a
bigger rate, and it’s also the point where the odds of having a child with a
genetic problem or birth defect start to go up,” he said.

Of course plenty of women have babies much later, but Dr Schmitt suggests
that women’s increased sociosexuality at around this time reflects an
evolved reproductive strategy that maximises the chances of their conceiving
and bearing a healthy child.

The research appears to be backed up by high profile marriage break ups.
Miss Beckinsale, the British actress left her Welsh husband Michael Sheen
after an affair when she was 30.

Amanda Holden divorced Les Dennis in December 2003 when she was 32 after
being unfaithful with Neil Morrissey.

The research by Dr Schmitt also showed that the levels of promiscuousness in
society also varied depending on the relative abundance of men.

In east Asian countries such as China, Japan and South Korea, where the
population is heavily male biased there is a relatively low level of
interest in uncommitted, casual sex.

Meanwhile, urban areas of the US with low ratios of men to women, had a
correspondingly high level of short-term relationships and divorce.

Anne Campbell, a psychologist at the University of Durham, said: “This means
men can call the shots, and what men usually want is casual sex.”