Your handshake might determine if you will have long-term relationships, more sexual partners: Study

Upper-body strength in males has been linked to lifetime sexual partners, with stronger individuals generally having more long-term relationships, per a study.

Your hands might be the window to your sex life. Confused? According to a new study published in Evolution and Human Behavior, evidence suggests that your upper body strength - proxied by handshake - could determine mating success.

The study found stronger men were more likely to be in long-term relationships and have more sexual partners. (Pexels)

The researchers at Washington State University found that strength had an impact on the lifetime number of sexual partners and current partnered status but not on the previous number of sexual partners or age at first intercourse.

Does strength determine your sex life?

The study used data from the 2013–2014 phase of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a large nationally representative sample of US adults, to discover the results. They found stronger men were more likely to be in long-term relationships and have more sexual partners compared to their peers. Meanwhile, stronger women had a longer list of sexual partners compared to weaker women. However, strength did not appear to influence the length of women’s past relationships.

Stronger individuals have more lifetime sexual partners. (Pexels)

Additionally, strength was significantly more important for male-partnered status than female. However, there was no significant interaction for lifetime sexual partners.

Conclusion

The study's results confirmed the importance of upper-body strength to male long-term mating success. Additionally, historically, stronger males were more desirable as partners. Experts have long thought that men's physical strength evolved as a key trait because it played a crucial role in competing for mates, following the principle of survival of the fittest.

“People have assumptions about men’s sexual behaviour and how that’s related to evolution. Besides acquiring more sexual partners, establishing long-term relationships was likely also important for men in evolutionary history,” lead author and anthropologist Caroline Smith said in a statement to Phys.org.

WSU evolutionary anthropologist Ed Hagen said, “Regardless of whether they’re males or females, stronger individuals have more lifetime sexual partners. That was a surprising finding and somewhat contrary to the sexual selection hypothesis.”