26/08/2013 11:00
Women have affairs in early 30s 'to maximise chances of reproducing'
Researchers have discovered that women - unlike many men - instinctively prefer a monogamous relationship, mainly because they need help bringing up any resultant children, The Telegraph reported.
But if they do stray it's more likely to be when they enter their 30s as their biological clock starts ticking.
Much like many celebrities, such as Kate Beckinsale and Amanda Holden, they perceive the age to be the beginning of their last chance for them to secure a good man to father their children.
It also coincides with them reaching their sexual peak and when they are most likely to have the most opportunities to have an affair.
The conclusion made by Dr David Schmitt of Bradley University, Illinois, was made after he collected data on the sexual habits of women from 48 countries across the world.
He found that while men's "sociosexuality" or promiscuousness peaks in their late 20s, women are most likely to be unfaithful to their partners in their early 30s.
Dr Schmitt told New Scientist that women were more likely to have an affair when their fertility first begins to wane.
"That's exactly the point where the odds of conceiving start to drop at a bigger rate, and it's also the point where the odds of having a child with a genetic problem or birth defect start to go up," he said.