…dan dinilai oleh wanita sebagai lebih tua, lebih sehat, dan lebih maskulin dibanding pria yang bersuara tinggi. Sebaliknya, pria menganggap wanita yang bersuara tinggi lebih atraktif, lebih feminin, lebih sehat, dan lebih muda dibanding wanita bersuara rendah.

clipped from www.livescience.com Previous studies conducted by David Feinberg of McMaster University in Canada have shown that women are more attracted to men with deeper voices, judging them to be older, healthier and more masculine than their higher-pitched rivals. Men, on the other hand, go for women with higher pitched voices because they find them more attractive, subordinate, feminine, healthier and younger-sounding. “While we find in this new study that voice pitch is not related to offspring mortality rates,” Feinberg said, “we find that men with low voice pitch have higher reproductive success and more children born to them.” the researchers studied the Hadza tribe of Tanzania, one of the last true hunter-gatherer cultures. Because the Hadza have no modern birth control, the researchers were able to compare birth rates without any outside influencing factors. They found that Hadza men with deeper voices had more children than those with higher voices.

Begitulah salah satu kesimpulan dari sebuah survey yang diselenggarakan para peneliti dari University of Cambridge (Inggris) dan University of Southern California (Amerika). Di masa awal dewasa, wanita cenderung lebih bahagia dibanding pria karena di situlah saat-saat mereka rata-rata menikah, berumahtangga, dan berkeluarga. Karena ini pula, di masa muda wanita lebih cepat merasa nyaman dengan keadaan finansialnya dibanding pria.

Di sisi lain, masa tua adalah saat-saat di mana mulai banyak wanita yang menjadi janda atau ‘ditinggalkan’ anaknya yang sudah mandiri atau punya keluarga sendiri. Sementara itu, banyak pria mulai usia 40an baru mulai merasa mantap dan mapan dengan hidupnya, baik secara finansial maupun kehidupan berkeluarga.

Bagaimana dengan anda (atau orangtua anda)?

clipped from www.livescience.com Less able to achieve their life goals, women end up unhappier than men later in life, even though they start out happier, a new survey of Americans suggests. Early in adult life, women are more likely than men to fulfill their family life and financial aspirations, leading to greater overall happiness. Later in life, however, the tables turn and men report coming closer to reaching their goals for consumer goods and family life. Men are more satisfied with their financial situation and family life, and are happier than women in later life, the study shows. Here are some age milestones found in the study 41: Age at which men’s financial satisfaction exceeds women’s financial satisfaction. 48: Age at which men’s overall happiness exceeds women’s overall happiness. 64: Age at which men’s satisfaction with family life exceeds women’s satisfaction. The study also found that both men and women believe they need more to be happy as they get older.

Rupanya tak salah kalau orang-orang menyebut kecocokan itu sebagai ‘chemistry’: Sebuah penelitian menyebutkan bahwa dalam bau badan laki-laki terdapat petunjuk mengenai sebuah gen yang terkait dengan faktor imunitas, dan wanita dikatakan cenderung lebih memilih pria yang ‘bau gen’-nya lebih berbeda dengan ‘bau gen’ si wanita sendiri.

Nah, celakanya, pengaruh pil kontrasepsi dapat membuat preferensi bau itu berubah; wanita jadi cenderung lebih memilih pria yang ‘bau gen’-nya serupa dengan dirinya sendiri. Kalau saat itu si wanita sudah punya pasangan? Sebuah penelitan lain menemukan bahwa wanita yang memilih pasangan dengan ‘bau gen’ serupa cenderung kurang puas secara seksual dan lebih besar kemungkinannya untuk selingkuh.

clipped from www.sciam.com Hidden in a man’s smell are clues about his major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes, which play an important role in immune system surveillance. Studies suggest that females prefer the scent of males whose MHC genes differ from their own, a preference that has probably evolved because it helps offspring survive A study published in August in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, however, suggests that women on the pill undergo a shift in preference toward men who share similar MHC genes. The female subjects were more likely to rate these genetically similar men’s scents (via a T-shirt the men had worn for two nights) as pleasant and desirable after they went on the pill as compared with before. Although no one knows why the pill affects attraction, some scientists believe that pregnancy—or in this case, the hormonal changes that mimic pregnancy—draws women toward nurturing relatives. Women who start or stop taking the pill, then, may be in for some relationship problems.