Sound familiar? (Picture: Getty)
Want to find a man ready to settle down and have kids? You’d better not set your sights on a brainbox, or you may be in for a wait.
Scientists in Norway have concluded that brainy men have kids later in life, after analysing parental age against men’s performances in cognitive tests.
The researchers, from the Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research in Oslo, gathered data from Norway’s compulsory national service programme to draw their results. They found the guys who scored in the top 20% for cognitive ability had their first child at 30, while the bottom 20% became dads aged 27.
It’s yet more evidence that the male population also plays a major part in the world’s fertility trends (shock horror). Because no, it isn’t just women who are ‘delaying motherhood,’ despite what some headlines would lead you to believe.
The average age of first-time fathers in England and Wales is now at 33.7 years old, so it seems British guys are waiting even longer than their Scandinavian counterparts. Meanwhile in the UK, a record number of women do not have children by the time they reach 30.
One interesting curveball in the Norwegian data shows that while brainy guys have kids later, they do tend to have more of them once they get down to business. The men who scored highest on intelligence had two children each, while those in the lower percentile had an average of 1.8.
Why is this happening?
Professor Nicky Hudson, a medical sociologist who’s spent years researching the topic, says there are ‘many reasons’ why men may be delaying fatherhood – we can’t pin it down to just one.
But there is some evidence to suggest the latest data could be influenced by our education trajectory and career, not just IQ.
‘Studies have shown that people who remain in education longer, or who are from higher income groups, may have children later,’ Prof. Hudson, who leads the Centre for Reproduction Research at De Montfort University, tells Metro.co.uk
‘But this is different from saying that childbearing is linked to some innate level of intelligence.
‘Our research at the Centre for Reproduction Research with men about their decisions to have children show this is complex and often related to finding a partner – as is the case with women.’
With the rise in cost of living, it’s not surprising that would-be parents – both men and women – might delay having children until they feel more financially secure. For some, it may feel like a necessity.
And of course, there’s nothing to say you have to have kids. If you’re childfree by choice, more power to you.
But for those who do want children, Professor Geeta Nargund, medical director of Create Fertility and abc ivf, says there should be ‘no illusion about the impact of increased age on the fertility of both men and women’. For guys, it’s all about the ‘quality and quantity’ of sperm.
‘For too long, fertility and the ‘biological clock’ has been viewed as solely a woman’s issue,’ she tells us, ‘but in fact around half of cases involve male factor infertility as a contributing factor.
‘We see headlines of older male celebrities, such as Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, having children well into their golden years, but men must realise that these stories reflect the minority and not the norm.’
Research from Create Fertility, a national group of private fertility clinics, suggests live birth rates after IVF ‘drop significantly when a man is aged 40 or above’. Parental age can also influence the health of the child.
‘Children born to men over 45 are five times more likely to have an autism spectrum disorder and 13 times more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD,’ Professor Nargund explains. ‘The risk of miscarriage in women with male partners over 45 is twice as high as those with partners under 25.’
Professor Hudson says we need ‘more studies about men and fertility in general’ because ‘often these decisions are seen as resting solely with women’. Meanwhile Professor Nargund would like lessons on fertility included in the national curriculum, so that everyone – regardless of gender – is clued up about their bodies.
The moral of the story?
Biology can catch up with everyone, no matter how brainy you are.
MORE : Celebs are loving surrogates – is this the future of fertility?
Sound familiar?
