Posted December 20, Reviewed by Vanessa Lancaster. Not everyone wants to have sex within a committed relationship. One of my most popular posts from last year looked at five interesting things science had to say about the desire for casual sex or sociosexuality.
Research into sociosexuality is booming, and a lot has happened even in the past year, so I am back with a sequel. A recent study using participants from Brazil and the Czech Republic found that sociosexuality is linked to speech attributes, which are different for men and women. Men with lower-pitched speech were seen as more attractive and tended to have a more unrestricted or higher sociosexuality. For those in close and happy relationships, this would be their current partner, but in other cases, it might be a more attractive prospect outside of their relationship.
It has long been established that testosterone declines with age in men and that this happens more quickly when they become fathers. Now, research has convincingly demonstrated that the same happens with sociosexuality. A study in the Philippines took almost single and childless men and tracked their sociosexuality over five years. Those who became married and fathers at that time showed a drop in their desire for uncommitted sex, while those who stayed single did not.
It appears that settling down has both psychological and hormonal effects on men as they shift from directing their time and effort on mating towards parenting. A recent study from Norway found that high sociosexuality predicted greater use of picture-based mobile dating apps like Tinder. These apps emphasize quick decisions about physical attractiveness compared to more traditional dating websites, which give more detail about life circumstances, preferences, and personality.
We know that both sexes tend to prioritise physical attractiveness when choosing casual sex partners, so it seems that those with high sociosexuality use the dating tool best aligned to their priorities.
