Decrease in fertility? Increase in casual sex!

American psychology graduate students conducted a study into women's attitudes towards casual sexual encounters as they age, and their biological clock starts ticking. This interesting new study seems to indicate that, as women's fertility starts to decrease, they are more and more willing to have one night stands and other casual encounters. The study, led by graduate students Jaime Confer, Cari Goetz, and Professor David Buss, looked at 827 women of all different ages. The groups were classed as high fertility (18-26 years old), low fertility (27-45 years old) and menopausal (46 and older). Now, I dispute that women as young as 27 should be classed as low fertility by default, but that is another matter altogether. Those women who took part in the study answered a series of questions through an online survey, which seems to be the information-collecting method of choice these days when it comes to low-budget studies.

The researchers then went on to publish their findings in the Personality and Individual Differences. No, you are not the only one who had never heard of it. I hadn't, either. But I assume that it is some sort of publication for psychology professionals. What I can do, is share these researchers very fascinating conclusions with you all. The women in the low fertility group were said to compensate for their declining fertility with an increase in sex drive. Women in the age group from 27 years to 45 years old were more likely to respond that they had frequent sexual fantasies, thought about sex often, and had a more active sex life than those in the younger, high fertility group. The low fertility group also had a higher number of women who were willing to have casual sex and one-night stands. They also had more intense sexual fantasies than their younger co-women.

The researchers concluded: "Our results suggest there is nothing special about the thirties, but that instead these behaviors manifest in all women with declining fertility. It may be more difficult to conceive past the age of 35, but our research suggests women's psychology will continue to motivate them to try until menopause."