"Cougar" trend of women chasing younger men a myth
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9:06am EDT

By Stephen Addison

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Madonna and Demi Moore may be fuelling talk of a growing trend for older women on the prowl for younger men but a study on Wednesday said the phenomenon of the "cougar" is a myth, confined to the world of celebrities.

The study of online dating, by the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC), found men and women are still rather traditional when it comes to searching for their ideal partner.

Women generally seek an older and, therefore hopefully, wealthier man, according to the UWIC study.

Men, on the other hand, desire a young and attractive female, and often prefer a much younger partner as they themselves age.

The findings, published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior, disputes the "cougar" phenomenon popularized in TV shows and movies like "Cougar Town" starring Courteney Cox and "Sex and the City" of women aged over 40 seeking "cubs."

Psychologist Dr Michael Dunn of UWIC's Cardiff School of Health Sciences led the study which involved analysing the age preferences of 22,000 men and women using online dating sites across 14 countries and two religious groups.

"A critically important consideration for advertisers on online dating sites appears to be the age of a potential partner," Dunn said in a statement.

He said it was a commonly held assumption that with the advent of female financial independence, women were now free to target men of any age group, as securing financial security from older, wealthier males was no longer a priority.

WOMEN NOT SEEKING "CUBS"

"The transference of female desire from relatively older men to relatively younger men, it has been argued, is reflected by the growth of the toy boy phenomenon," he said.

"The results of our research challenges these assumptions. Although there was some cultural variation in extremes, the results showed clearly that women across all age groups and cultures, targeted males either their own age or older."

Dunn said a strikingly different pattern of age preferences was evident in men.

Younger men, aged 20 to 25, either targeted females their own age or marginally younger.

But as males aged, they clearly expressed a preference for women increasingly younger than themselves, with this pattern also being cross-culturally consistent.

"These findings are clearly supportive of evolutionary theory," Dunn added. "A wide variety of evidence has shown that women, when considering a potential long-term partner, focus more than males on cues indicative of wealth and status and these logically accumulate with age.

"Males conversely focus more intently on physical attractiveness cues and these are clearly correlated with the years of maximum fertility."

A UWIC release added: "Madonna and Demi Moore are said to be influencing a whole new generation of 'cougar' women who see much younger men as their goal when looking for a long-term partner.

"But this notion of the 'toy-boy' phenomenon is dispelled as a myth which only exists in the world of celebrity rather than reflecting real life."

The countries involved in the survey were Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, Greece, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, and Ukraine.

(Reporting by Stephen Addison; Editing by Belinda Goldsmith)

The article makes the assumption that cougars are looking for long term relations with younger men. I doubt that they are looking for anything more than a fuck. And how would a study get women to be honest about that?

Where is USA on this list?
Where did the cougar trend start?
**Also doesn't note that a lot of women are heading not only to LOS for their hot f_cks, but to DR, Spain, MX, and several other places -- including some place in Africa that is the female version of Pattaya (for men). If she is hot and older and in her sexual prime, why should she have to settle for some of us blubbery humps who can't work it.

Would the statistics skew if the reporting added the countries of France, Italy, Spain and USA? (Each country with a powerful/passionate women demographic and with the exception of US, much more liberal with sexual 'expression'.)

Summation: This article is crap.
Cougars exist and the trend will continue as more women seek the same empowerment as their powerful male colleagues and counterparts.
Yes the majority of people want relationships. What does that have to do with Cougars??? (or celebrities)
Certainly not all cougars are celebrities. One walk through Bing Crosby's in Walnut Creek will answer that.
Increasingly, for many women, sex is not the same thing as a relationship and I find nothing wrong with it.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/08/31/BAV41F6FIP.DTL&tsp=1

The UWIC data is probably valid, but the conclusion is not. Being a cougar has nothing to do with finding a life partner. It's one thing to be a 40-something woman who wants to have a hot Saturday night with a young buck, and quite another to want to settle down with that person.

A criteria of their research was "searching for their ideal partner." That's NOT an american female cougar and I had plenty in my mid teens to late twenties. All were hot, able, and just wanted to fuck on occasions. There was NO wish or desire on their parts for a "relationship", except to remain in touch enough, for the next all-night romp.

Personally, for most of them, I felt it was a kind of control issue, in that they could control their own sexuality and be like men too. More in control and dominant of their own sexuality. A sort of coming of age for them. Some were single/divorced and some involved. Those that were already involved, once they hit a certain age, had no problem fucking around, but was a hell of a lot better at hiding it and had their SOs totally fucking snowed.

I found white, hispanic and asian women weren't any different, except in their approach and caution. They were all attainable. Even those you thought would never do it.

I was thankful for their education in many ways.

The problems with cougars are that there's NO future in any of their "relationships." They have many many one night stands but eventually they are bound to be lonely (& sad) when they can't score young studs anymore while most don't know how to keep a lasting relationship with an "older" man.

Sad but true.

Happily ever after, still!

Anyway see "Alfie" if you haven't. I won't spoil the ending but it's relevant.