Adults Who Want Children Tend to Find Older-Looking Partners More Attractive, New Study Finds
A new psychological study suggests that adults who strongly want to have children may actually be less drawn to youthful-looking partners than previously assumed. Contrary to long-standing ideas in evolutionary psychology, the research shows that a stronger desire for children is linked to a weaker preference for younger adult faces, not a stronger one. Interestingly, this shift in attraction has nothing to do with money, wealth, or perceptions of parenting ability.
The study was conducted by Jingheng Li and colleagues from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, U.K., and was published in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS ONE in 2025. It challenges some deeply rooted assumptions about how reproductive motivation shapes human attraction and mate preferences.
How the Study Was Conducted
The researchers recruited 300 heterosexual adults, consisting of 149 men and 151 women, all of whom were childless, U.K. residents, and native English speakers. The average age of the male participants was around 30 years, while the women averaged 31 years. Importantly, none of the participants had children at the time of the study, which allowed the researchers to focus specifically on desire for children rather than parenting experience.
Participants were shown 50 headshot photographs of members of the opposite sex. These photos represented adults aged 19 to 55, offering a wide age range. Each participant rated the faces on a scale ranging from “not at all attractive” to “very attractive.” After completing the attractiveness ratings, participants filled out the Desire to Have Children Questionnaire, a standardized psychological measure used to assess how strongly someone wants to become a parent.
This setup allowed the researchers to directly examine whether people who want children more strongly are also more attracted to youthful-looking faces, a key prediction derived from traditional evolutionary psychology theories.
What the Researchers Expected
For decades, evolutionary psychology has suggested that youthful appearance, especially in women, signals fertility and reproductive potential. Based on this idea, many researchers have assumed that people who strongly desire children would show an even stronger attraction to youthful faces, as these faces are often associated with higher reproductive value.
In simple terms, the expectation was straightforward: if someone wants children, they should prefer partners who look younger.
However, the results told a very different story.
The Key Findings
Across the entire group, participants generally rated younger adult faces as more attractive than older ones. This finding is consistent with a large body of previous research. The study also found that men tended to rate faces as more attractive than women, and older participants gave higher attractiveness ratings overall compared to younger participants.
But the most important result emerged when the researchers looked at desire for children.
Participants who reported a stronger desire to have children showed a weaker preference for younger adult faces. In other words, while they still found younger faces attractive, the difference in attractiveness between younger and older faces was smaller for them. They were relatively more open to older-looking partners than those who had a weaker desire for children.
This pattern was observed in both men and women, making it a general effect rather than one tied to a specific gender.
Not About Money or Parenting Skills
One obvious explanation for this finding might be that older-looking partners are perceived as wealthier, more stable, or better parents. To test this possibility, the researchers conducted two follow-up studies using new groups of participants.
In these additional studies, participants rated the same types of faces on perceived wealth and parenting capability. The results were clear: older-looking faces were not rated as wealthier or as better potential parents than younger-looking faces.
This ruled out the idea that people who want children prefer older-looking partners because they believe those partners are richer or more capable of raising children.
It is also important to note that Studies 2 and 3 involved different participant samples than the original attractiveness-rating study. Because of this, the authors caution that the follow-up findings may not perfectly reflect the perceptions of the original participants. Still, the results strongly suggest that wealth and parenting ability are not driving the observed preference shift.
Why These Findings Matter
The study directly challenges a widely held assumption in evolutionary psychology. Instead of reproductive motivation intensifying attraction to youth, the data suggest the opposite. People who want children more strongly may place less emphasis on youthful appearance when judging attractiveness.
This does not mean that youth suddenly becomes unattractive. Rather, it becomes less central in shaping attraction for those with stronger parenting goals.
The researchers emphasize that this finding complicates simplistic explanations of human mate choice. Attraction is influenced by many interacting factors, and reproductive motivation may not work in the straightforward way that earlier theories proposed.
Possible Explanations and Open Questions
The study does not claim to have all the answers. Instead, it opens the door to several new questions. For example, people who strongly desire children may prioritize traits associated with emotional maturity, life experience, or long-term stability, even if those traits are not consciously linked to age.
The researchers also suggest that future studies should explore additional factors, such as whether participants already have children, how they use or think about contraception, and how cultural and social differences might shape these preferences.
Another important question is whether these findings extend beyond laboratory settings. Rating photos in a study is very different from making real-life dating or relationship decisions, and future research will be needed to see how these preferences play out in everyday life.
What This Adds to Our Understanding of Attraction
This research highlights that human attraction is more flexible and context-dependent than often assumed. Desire for children does not simply amplify attraction to youthful features. Instead, it appears to soften the emphasis on youth, suggesting that people adjust their preferences in subtle ways depending on their life goals.
The findings also serve as a reminder that evolutionary explanations should be tested carefully rather than accepted as universal truths. Even deeply ingrained theories can be challenged by empirical data.
Broader Context: Age and Attraction
Previous studies have consistently shown that age preferences in dating are influenced by factors such as personal age, relationship goals, and social norms. This new research fits into that broader picture by showing that parenthood goals are another important variable shaping attraction.
Rather than pointing to a single rule about what people find attractive, the study underscores how attraction reflects a combination of biology, psychology, and individual priorities.
Final Thoughts
The idea that wanting children automatically makes people more attracted to youthful partners may sound intuitive, but this study suggests reality is far more nuanced. By showing that a stronger desire for children is linked to less emphasis on youth, the research offers a fresh perspective on how life goals influence attraction.
As researchers continue to explore these questions, studies like this help move the conversation beyond oversimplified assumptions and toward a more realistic understanding of human relationships.
Research paper: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0336292
