With age and financial independence women seek physically attractiveolder men

[caption id="attachment_4472" align="alignleft" width="211" caption="Robert Redford"][/caption]


Carol Forsloff - While Cougars and Cubs might be the rage in some quarters, recent research in psychology observes that the mature, independent, attractive male is the target for financially independent women.

Women aren't inclined to foster relationships long range with individuals who are simply young and have good looks.  Looks are important, but emotional stability and financial independence are what women want as they develop their own skills and stability economically.

This effect of women seeking mature, stable, but attractive men,  of the type depicted by Robert Redford in The Way We Were, finds that as women gain self confidence and material stability, physical attractiveness and age of partner both increase.  Unlike men, however, as women age they continue to want mature men.

Lead researcher Dr Fhionna Moore,  who lectures in psychology at the University of Abertay Dundee,  explains why this is:  "Previous research shows that men place greater importance on physical attractiveness when picking a partner, whereas women focus much more on whether someone can provide material resources.

"We'd assumed that as women earn more, their partner preferences would actually become more like those of men, with a tendency towards preferring younger, more attractive partners rather than those who can provide and care for children.

"However, the preferred age difference did not change as we'd expected -- more financially independent women actually preferred even older men. We think this suggests greater financial independence gives women more confidence in partner choices, and attracts them to powerful, attractive older men."

In the study of women's behaviors of 3770 heterosexual participants were asked to rank their choices in what they sought in mates.

"The behaviour of men and women does become more similar as women earn more, but only in terms of the importance of physical attraction," Dr Moore added. "But the similarities stop there: greater income makes women prefer even older men, and men prefer even younger women."

The popular stereotype of powerful women adopting male patterns of behaviour is strongly questioned by these new results.

Independent women select partners from a wider age range than men, the study finds, and are more confident in looking at physical attractiveness as important criteria.