Rich Cougars, Sugar Daddies Aren't For Real: Study

According to a new study, cougar and sugar daddies is more a myth than reality. The study found that contrary to popular belief, couples with large age differences are more likely to have low education levels, average looks and less-than-average income.

"Hugh Hefner is an outlier. Our results call into question the conventional wisdom regarding differently-aged couples," said Hani Mansour, Ph.D., an assistant professor of economics at the University of Colorado Denver and co-author the study.

The data for the study came from the U.S. Census Bureau data between 1960 and 2000. Researchers looked at age of first marriage, education levels, income of the couple, among other variables.

The study also used the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 to determine the cognitive abilities and the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (Add Health) to assess physical attractiveness.

Researchers said that people who attend a regular college study with their peers of roughly the same age-groups. They also finish college at the same time and enter professions where there is upward mobility. These people are more likely to marry people of their own age, earn college degrees and have higher income.

On the other end, people who don't finish college or work in low-paying jobs often marry people with a wider age gap, as they tend to mostly interact with people who are older or younger than them.

Men whose spouses were eight or more years younger than them earned about $3,495 less per year, when compared with men whose spouses were a year younger or older. Women who married older men had higher income, but data showed that this was because they were working longer hours.

"It really depends on who your social network is," Mansour said in a news release. "People with lower earning potential are in networks that are more age diverse."

Mansour said that people with spouses of the same age have numerous benefits like having children when both are ready, planning retirement together and growing old at the same time.