The Golden Years: Men From The Forbes 400 Have Much Younger Wives When Remarrying Than the General US Population

Pollet, Thomas, Pratt, Sophia, Edwards, Gracia and Stulp, Gert (2013) The Golden Years: Men From The Forbes 400 Have Much Younger Wives When Remarrying Than the General US Population. Letters on Evolutionary Behavioral Science, 4 (1). pp. 5-8. ISSN 1884-927X

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Abstract

A common stereotype is that richer men have wives who are substantially younger than themselves. However, some research suggests that large age gaps are actually more common with low male income, at least in the general population. Here, we examine spousal age differences among the super wealthy (Forbes 400 list – the richest 400 individuals in the US). Men from the Forbes 400 on average had a spouse who was seven years younger, which is significantly different from the mean age difference between spouses in the US population. Furthermore when these men remarried, their subsequent spouse was substantially younger, twenty-two years younger on average, again markedly different from the general population. Wealthy women did not differ from the general population in terms of spousal age differences. We conclude that based on these data the stereotype that rich men (re)marry younger wives holds a kernel of truth, at least for a sample of the super wealthy.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	evolutionary psychology, human mate choice, spring-autumn marriage, wealth, Forbes 400
Subjects:	C800 Psychology
Department:	Faculties > Health and Life Sciences > Psychology
Depositing User:	Becky Skoyles
Date Deposited:	25 Sep 2017 13:51
Last Modified:	12 Oct 2019 17:25
URI:	http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/31991

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