American Morning
Men have a biological clock?
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/05/25/carroll.bio.clock.art.jpg caption="CNN's Jason Carroll reports on a recent study that suggests men have their own biological clock."]
It has been happening for centuries – an older man taking a younger bride. Popular with kings in earlier times, in this day it is not uncommon with Hollywood royalty.
A 20-something-year-old I met tried to sum up the thinking on the male biological clock, saying “We don't have to deal with the whole, you know, estrogen issues. So men keep on pumping it out but women – they can't.”
The truth is there may be a male biological clock – and it’s ticking.
The headline from a recent study: Older fathers may mean lower IQs in their children.
Researchers found children born to 50-year-old fathers scored slightly lower on intelligence tests than children of a 20-year-old father, regardless of the mother's age. The researchers analyzed data from more than 33-thousand American children. The study's outcome is a hot topic in the blogosphere.
“I would hope that somehow it equalizes relationships of sexes,” says Lisa Belkin of the New York Times.
Belkin blogged about the study and wrote an essay titled "Your Old Man," for the New York Times. The response, she says, has been overwhelming.
“The men are getting really angry and the women are a little too gleeful… There were just hundreds and hundreds of people and you could just divide them into two categories based on gender,” says Belkin.
Now there is a new sense of urgency with some men.
Dr. Harry Fisch is a professor of urology. He reviewed the study and cautioned more testing needs to be done because the study did not follow children's intellectual development beyond age seven.
“We can't say that men of a certain age – their children won't be as smart. But what we’re seeing are real indications, we're seeing real clues that as men get older there are problems.”
I spoke to one expecting couple in their late 30's who were taking a measured outlook.
“We're having our first. If he is a little less intelligent maybe the world doesn't need smarter people, doesn't need more gifted people just deeper people. So hopefully he will be a deep person,” says Peter Trautman.
While the study found a six point difference in intelligence test scores between the children of a 50-year-old father and a 20-year-old, the difference in those scores dropped to about two points when socio-economic factors were taken into account.
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Obvious questions arise:
What are the average IQ scores of men who have children over 50?
and....possibly even more important....
What are the averge IQ scores of the mothers who have children with older men?
Is there a pattern? I suspect there is.
I think Tyson hit the nail on the head. Let's face it, the guys fathering children at 50+ are probably pretty heavily weighted to the the low end of the IQ pool. Everybody wants to jump on a minimally meaningful study at best because it can cause some controversy.
wat
alan, a man does not need his wife's signature to get a vasec. That is an urban legend.
Well then I guess this study revokes the one from last year that the news blasted the world about.
The jist of it was: the proof in sientific studies shows a childs intelligence is based on the intelligence level of the mother.
So the age of the father should not matter !! Unless all factors in the rearing of the child are taken into consideration. Then yes, some pros and cons of an older aged father woukld factor in., but so would a younger mans.
Overcrowding, that's the fault of women who see having babies
as a way to survive on the backs of men.
Men have sex for the pleasure of having sex (not to procreate).
Women are the ones who choose to procreate.
Why does society allow this stupidity.
Take away the reward for procreating and you'll find the
world will be a much better place. A much friendlier place.
Don't give women crap. Let them work like everyone else.
Blood sucking scum bags all of them !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Since when do the fathers intelligence mean the child will be same? That is ignorence... like the people who wanted to "clense" america... A retarded parent WON'T have a retarded child simply because the father is not smart. The people who suggest that are the real retards. So get a life. Im sick of people like you. GO TO CHINA please we dont want nor need you here.
P.S same applies for gay parents. A gay parent isn't going to make their child gay. It is a lifestyle choice. So um yeah you people all really need to stop.
If the father was more than 50 years old, then BOTH parents were stupid. How can there be surprise at this finding?
When I'm 50 I'll blow loads into 20 year old women but have them use birth control. Who needs rug rats anyhow? Breeders are dumb whether they're 20 or 50. Waste of money and time and sanity. You parents need to have your dumb kids STFU in airplanes and restaurants which as a rule are not places for kids.
Regardless of the validity of this study, oh, how I absolutely LOVE how so many men are taking offense to their idea that THEIR sperm might not be of peak quality once they reach a certain age. Of course, it's the woman's fault. If the kids have a lower IQ, it must be because the mother is an imbecile. Right – even though men contribute half the genetic material needed to create a child, it is without a doubt ALWAYS the woman's fault when something goes wrong.
Men, let me ask you something ... why is it so hard to accept that as your body declines with age, so will your ability to produce top-notch sperm? Does this idea somehow attack your notions of virility? It's already know that babies born to older mothers have higher incidences of down syndrome and similar issues, so doesn't it follow that babies born to older fathers could face the same things? It's not rocket science. It's common sense.
Accept it, dudes.
I think we are missing the real point. Who wants old people for parents? Its like saying to these old guys droppin seed bombs into these ladies wake up old man stop havin babies you cant take care of cause your old. I mean if my dad was old enough to my mothers father how much fun is it gonna be to do stuff with him everybody at school be like her dad must be a real dead beat but her granddad is such a good guy showin up at all her school events.Or hey dad lets play catch. First though; here is some aspricream and aleve. Seriously everybodys talking about gender here. Its not about gender its about being stupid. old ladies cant have kids and if they could gross. Old guys can have babies I dont think alot of them do but still gross.
Honestly, who wants rug rats in their 50s anyway? Hell, I'm 39 and I wouldn't want rug rats now either. From what all my married and now mostly divorced friends say, it is a life sentence in a maximum security facility. I LOVE my freedom!!!!
There are so many holes in this study you'd think it was put together by the 5 year old son of an octogenarian...
Who cares. It's sickening that people are having kids for some kind of status anyway. We don't need more smart people, we need more accepting, loving and open people.
The standard deviation of IQ is 15 points. So six points is really pretty meaningless.
Did the study control for the intelligence of the females? My guess is that older men who have children are typically of a higher income bracket and perhaps are on their second (read trophy / bimbo) wife.
It would not surprise me at all if men have a biological clock, but I doubt that this study was 'good science' as there are numerous variables that could impact the results. Should older men not have chidren? What about generally 'dumb' people? Want to see an uproar?, publish a story about how dumb people have dumb kids!
Anyway....down the road.....
Another classic example of fundamentally flawed logic and flawed reasoning. A child's intelligence depends upon both parents, as the age of the father increases, there is also a decrease in the intelligence of the mother. Lets face it, women with hormones rather than brains are the ones who pop out the most babies. The reality is older fathers generally make better fathers and even if there is a "two point" difference, the children of older fathers have many advantages over children whose fathers are a similar age to the mother.
What the statistics do show is that the risks to children increase dramatically as the mother's age exceeds 40.
http://www.OttawaMensCentre.com
Absolutely Danny. So anyone who eats ice cream in the summer is stupid. And their kids will be stupid too.
If a man in his 50's can get a 20 year old to marry him, he can't be all that stupid.
all i want to kow is, why do i have to have my fiancee sign a constent form for me to get a vasectomy. we are not married, we do have 2 children together, but the reasoning escapes me.
(all this talk of children and overcrowding made me think of this, sorry to pull it out of left field.)
In the summer, more people drown in the sea and ice cream sales skyrocket. Can I conclude that ice creams cause people to drown?
Men in their 50's have no business cranking out kids to start with. The world is dangerously overpopulated as it is. They aren't thinking "finished size" either, what about putting the kid through college when they are in their 70's? That father had better be very, very rich! Cranking out kids in your 50's is nothing put a huge ego trip to cover up sexual insecurity. (As is dating 20 year olds – they are only into you for the money!) Please guys, age gracefully with a bit of dignity!
I don't believe this... I know plenty of people who have older fathers. and some of them are the most successful people I know. I don't think we can base facts off of this. Intelligence levels differ with every situation and child.
Only people under 40 of both sexes should have kids for best "genetic outcomes". After that kids grad HS as you retire. Wake up people. if you missed the boat you missed it. rug rats only contribute to global warming anyway. adopt like a celebrity
That explains a lot! My dad had me when he was 40... I'm not stupid my dad is just old!
This study pretty much an encouragement for young teenage boys to breed.
I wonder if the study controlled for IQ of the female. Often, trophy wives of older men aren't exactly the brightest...
Most 50 year old men having kids are married to women in their 40's maybe late 30's. So, maybe it is the age of the woman (twice the likelihood of downs syndrome).
I'm going to guess that other factors that weigh in are activity. A 20 yo father is likely to be more active then a 50 yo father...a more active lifestyle with their father HAS TO impact child development imho.
Yes. If you're stupid enough to have children past the age of 50, your children will probably be just as stupid as you are.
Define intelligence!
oh noes....so my kid will only have an IQ of 122 as opposed to 124 if I had fathered him/her years ago ?? say it isn't so !
i read years ago that the older fathers get, the more likely the child will have autism or down's syndrome. this just fits into that whole thing nicely. it makes sense.
May 25th, 2009 1:29 pm ET
I also wonder whether they controlled for the fact that older fathers grew-up in an era where academic expectations and pressures were much reduced compared to those of today. Maybe they just don’t care as much about academia, and as a result, don’t train their children to be of the ‘gifted’ sort...........................ah, so you think your getting a better education than i did?, you think academic pressures and expectations are higher today? i find that amusing, a lot of the math skills and basic science you young "rocket scientists" are getting in college was taught in high school in my day, no computers, no calculaters, you had to learn HOW TO DO THE MATH, today i doubt any
one of you young people can do ANYTHING without a computer, YOU DONT THINK, in my day, we put a man on the moon with sliderules, nowdays you young people crash a $50,000,000 probe into mars at 18,000KPS because you forgot a simple conversion from miles to kilometers....any questions?
"...children born to 50-year-old fathers scored slightly lower on intelligence tests..."
Paper thin circumstantial evidence. But it's adequate fodder for male-bashing feminists I suppose.
I spent 24 years in the Army and loved every minute of it. Then I met a woman 20 years my junior who made me want to come home every day. So when I was injured again (soldiering can be a rough job) and the Army decided it was time for me to retire and adopt a less strenuous lifestyle I didn't fight it too hard. My wife and I wanted children so at the ripe old age of 44 I had my first child. My son is 6 now and in kindergarten and tests at the very top of the charts. In kindergarten he is doing addition and subtraction with multi-digit numbers and started teaching himself multiplication (from a multiplication table he got from his 10-year old step-sister so no we’re not pushing him).
To me 6 test points difference in the children of 20 and 50 year-old fathers doesn't sound like a lot statistically, but then I'm not the one getting paid to do research and come up with publishable results.
He absolutely loves playing basketball so I am wondering how I’m going to keep up with him as he grows and wants to play ball with dad as dad approaches 60, but so far I’m managing to keep up and he’s keeping me young. I can tell you this older father is not worried about this study or results, I’m just enjoying watching my son grow.
I agree with Tyson...any man who intentionally fathers a child after age 50 is "simply not as intelligent as men who father children earlier...". Of course, by the same token, I have to believe that a man who intentionally fathers a child at age 20 can't be the smartest kid on the block either.
On second thought, I agree with the socio-economic theory, as it doesn't appear there is a statistically significant difference between the age classes when controlled by this variable. But do we really want to dredge up the controversy of "The Bell Curve" by Richard Herrnstein. Maybe we should just continue to bury are heads in the sand....
What's that again.. they found a difference of 2 points on the IQ? How accurate is the IQ test itself? How consistent is the test?i.e. if the same person takes the test twice, you think they would get exactly the same score? The test itself probaby has a standard deviation of more than 2 points.
In that case, this study is utter nonsense - except probably telling us something about the IQ of the person who wrote the story, who edited the story, who published the story, and the people who choose to believe the story.
Don't tell Mel Gibson!
Isn't it amusing to read the guys' defensive comments?
What? Are you guys having a difficult time accepting that you are not as potent in your old age as you were younger.
I am no feminist, but geez – get used to it guys – you too will get old and you too will get undesirable and you too are replacable. Furthermore, men should not be fathering babies that late in life anyways, as they die earlier than women and leave their offsprings to be raised by women and without the paternal influence.
Much ado about nothing.
"The difference in those scores dropped to about two points when socio-economic factors were taken into account".
Two points is not statistically significant. It's understandable why many are reading into these conclusions but that doesn't make it correct. On the other hand, sperm count and sperm viability do decrease with age so if you're looking for an 'equalizing' male clock then that may be it.
Is – and always will be – much easier for a 50-something man to hook up with a 20-something woman than vica versa. That's what ticks 'em off.
Was method of infant feeding controlled? The over 50 fathers may be having younger wives that are afraid of losing their looks and choose not to breastfeed. Formula fed infants have been shown to have an average of 7 point lower IQ's than breastfed infants.
Pure NONSENSE!!! fabricated theories without foundations!. If I might ask how large was the sample? what was the health conditions of the older fathers? were they some fathers who were drunkers in the sample?. Bearing those questions in mind I can conclude that, there is no sufficient evidence to conclude otherwise more studies with a larger sample covering all demographics is necessary. Remember Abraham got Isac when he was 90 years old and Isac was not a retard!. Who ever came up with this study is a moron!
This worthless and pointless study assumes that all men want or should have children. I am 42 years old and have a 0% interest in children or becoming a father. Why do these researchers waste their time on such studies? It sounds like just another reason to bash older men.
Ah, that which passes as science these days...... Anyone seen Idiocracy?
It doesn't seem shocking that male age is just as important as female age. Acknowledging that these differences occur is long overdue and is an important consideration to be armed with when selecting a mate. I'm sure this isn't the last we will hear of this line of scientific and sociogical thought. Perhaps the results will be more clear cut when the researchers show direct connections to Down's Syndrome and other genetic anomalies, as opposed to intelligence scores which have already been proven to be culturally biased and were never meant to be used for more than identifying functionally substandard IQ's.Still, other considerations should balance out this perspective. Such as older fellows are more experienced and considerate lovers who are less likely to be unfaithful and more likely to be solid providers.
2 point difference? The average persons IQ can vary by as much as 9 points from test to test.
This. Test. Was. Worthless. I am surprised CNN wasted any money on a flawed article based upon FRAUDULENT FACTS.
oops, i meant james in my previous comment.
i apologize alan.
however, james, for years older men have used this excuse as a reason for their trophy wife and trophy girlfriend.
hopefully you are an honorable man and not one of these.
that's why women are "gleeful'.
Fathering a kid at age 20?? How smart is that? Good way to ruin your life if you ask me. Seems like those 50 year old were on to something...
there is validity to the idea of a window of time in which men should have children....this study does a poor job of showing the real reason that older age may of men may present a problem with child bearing....what needs to be shown is the difference in the health of a 20-40 year olds sperm and sperm in men over 40 or 50....as men age sperm can't swim as fast and are not produced in such high numbers.... autism has also been linked to issues with male sperm.....I do wish the biology would be presented here
Who conducted this study? The united children of fathers over 50?
This "study" is so fraught with variables that aren't accounted for that it is basically meaningless. This really should be in some schlock newsstand paper such as the National Enquirer. Nice marketing piece. I guess real news just doesn't cut it anymore.
There's just a 2 point IQ difference once socioeconomic factors are taken into consideration. And it was only 6 points without that! So what else was not accounted for? I wouldn't be surprised if all the other factors that people have posted here were taken into account that the result would be completely opposite - that older men have MORE intelligent kids! (posted by a younger mom with a very smart, healthy, happy kid and a 50-something dad)
This study controls for wives' age, which means regardless of husbands' ages, wives' ages are similar. This is a flaw in itself. It is more likely the scenario that a 50 year old husband and a 20 year old husband each has a 20 year old wife. Now, what kinds of 20 year olds marry 50 year old man, and what kinds of 20 year olds marry 20 year old man. They need to control for wives' IQ rather than their ages.
What was the study? where was it published? was it in a peer reviewed journal? I'm sincerely interested in knowing more details. thanks
This study reminds me of one that pointed to de novo mutations potentially leading to higher risk for schizophrenia in children from older fathers. http://schizophreniabulletin.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/27/3/379. (Malaspina, Harlap, Fennig, Heiman, Nahon, Feldman & Susser, 2001)
However, I wonder if this "male biological clock" observation is merely a case of correlation not equaling causation. Another possibility is that there is a 3rd variable involved, such as the father dying earlier, and the child growing up with less parental time = lower IQ. Just because, in the summer, sales of both hotdogs and ice cream increase doesn't mean that one causes the other. 😉
Still, there is mounting criticism of the whole measuring of intelligence using this method anyway.
this is for alan.
i have several male friends who are respectively a priest, a psychologist and a minister.
according to all of them, very few woman marry older man for love.
90% marry for one of two reasons: money or power.
Get off your personal power trip and face reality.
unfortunately, most of the time older men are being used.
My dad old and me not low IQ.
2 points when correcting for socioeconomic status? Well that's it. Men should all be sterilized at 30. For every 70 children born to older fathers, that's, like, 1 genius we're missing out on, right?
(70 x 2 = 140 = genius, for those with older fathers.)
But seriously, shouldn't we be waaaaay more concerned with the 4 point attributable to socioeconomic status?
And as an end note, this article seems to take as an assumption that this is rooted solely in biology–it ignores cultural, social, and epigenetic factors. As the 4 points on socioeconomic status piece indicates, this could be explained in whole or in part by the perhaps more limited role in parenting an aging father is able to play.
Just putting it out there.
my family practitioner told me that and more when i had my daughter at 43. he stated that in his limited experience, a younger father and an older woman had as good a chance of having a healthy, normal bright child as any couple in their 20's and 30's.
that older couples or couple where the man was older were definitely not as successful in producing a bright child.
guess Dr. Lee was right all along - even though he didn't have all those research degrees.
all he had was common sense and experience.
Unless this study adjusted for the children's upbringing it could have to do with the lack of involvement of fathers from an earlier generation. Many older men still feel raising kids is women's work. Young dad's don't have that attitude as much.
While very interesting to hear about, I don't really think that this report holds much water. Nice to see, but I also think that these results need more proof before any of us take it too seriously.
old men should be thinking about dying not reproducing....losers
Older man marrying a much younger woman = Lust
Younger woman marrying a much older man = Money
Therefore, you could expect their child to be real dumb.
(We already have a lot of those kinds of people on Earth...enough!!!!)
I've never seen so many men trying to discredit this study. It's amusing when the shoe is on the other foot.
I must say this is a stupid research endeavor that doesn't really indicate anything of significance or value. "Slightly score lower on IQ tests"????...the operative word here being "slightly." Geez, I'm sure the value lies slightly, slightly beyond the realm of chances.
And Lisa Belkin's comment about how "this study should equalizing [effect] relationships of sexes” is just another example of "Stupid research" leading to "big conclusions" that are not directly related.
Your article did not say which intelligence tests were used in the study. However, in the Stanford Binet line of tests the standard deviation usually was 14 or 15 points. A 6 point difference would be considered insignificant as it is within the expected variation.
Without publishing more information about the study, this article is not even suggestive. I would expect a bit more who what when where and why when it comes to your reporting.
I am more concerned about birth defects and autism than 2-point drop in I.Q. If men have "biological clock" than the consequences need to be explore and both male and females show know the risks.
James not all women are attracted to older guys, quit assuming things. I think being with older men is disgusting. Every guy I've dated has been at least a couple months younger than me. Reason? They have more energy! 🙂
I think its far out we can now relabel all the stupid people as deep.
If socio-economics played the most important role then we would see the children with older fathers obtaining higher IQ scores, since on average someone who is 50 vs 20 should have more fininancial means. Weather or not it is a nurture aspect it is hard to say, it wouldn't totally surprise me if DNA in sperm degraded with age, everything in our world degrades with time. Besides, who in thier right mind would want kids after 50 anyway, better kiss any thought of retirement and relaxation goodbye!
A man has a newborn probably an indication of failure in life. At least a lower IQ in management of marriage. It said the Chinese philosopher, Confucian's father was 70. Is this study funded by tax dollars?
It says at the end of the article that the drop is like 2 pts. When a persons IQ is 130 what difference is 2 pts. But when a persons IQ is 60 the drop makes all the difference between being considered mentally retarded or not. I would like to know the GRF for these children. But I would also like to know other things like ethnic background, socio-econimic situation, gender of child, etc. There may be so many other contributing factors that I just can't take this study seriously.
It says it doesn't take into consideration socio-economic factors which in my opinion is huge. Many children born to 20 year old fathers are born into poverty, have less educational opportunities and advantages than those that are born to older parents (not necessarily their '50s but compared to those in their late 20s and 30s). They are also more likely to achieve less in life and become teenage or early-20s parents themselves. It creates a cycle and is part of the reason we have so many grandparents in their 30s and early 40s nowadays.
Maybe it's because old men are marrying "eye candy" (ie. dumb beautiful women).
Hmm. Perhaps older men are not as intense about a child's upbringing and less engaged in the early stages. Perhaps men fathering children with a younger woman do so with a woman who is less intelligent than one he might have married earlier in life (less maintenance),
There are way too many variables to control in a situation like this, so it would be hard to say if the results of the study are accurately indicated.
Let me guess this article was written by a feminist from California Ja! Ja!
Oh, the "experts" have spoken! All hail the "experts"! My own study proves that people who listen to the "experts" score a minimum of 10 points lower on IQ tests. Go figure.
Did this study take into account the confounding factor of the intelligence levels of the 50 year men involved in the study? If this is not taken into account we cannot reach a scientific conclusion based on the results from the study. Did the researchers eliminate selection bias by randomly selecting the candidates for the study? How where these 50 year old men selected? What about Interviewers bias? How was the interview to determine the intelligence quotients of the children conducted for the study? We need to know all these factors before we can reach a decision regarding the validity of the study.
There are probably many 50 year old men who are raising children who aren't theirs. These kids are likely the result of women having sex with the cable installer, but wanting the financial support of a middle aged man.
A 20 year old who marries a man of 50 must so be so dum that even if Enstein were the father the children would take something from the the mother. Surely it would not be inteligence. And 50 year old who marries a young heffer, must be twice an idiot.. From two idiots you will get nothing but idiots. And so the world is full of them, who have even become researches. Go figure.
Perhaps women who have babies with 50+ year old men have lower IQ's and therefore they have babies with lower IQ's.
I would rather look at it from the environmental perspective of parental involvement at age 20ish vs age 50ish. Variables involved: opportunity through socio-economic factors, time spent nurturing child, energy output, etc.
Good. I don't want the little stinker outsmarting me.
I'm not surprised by the results of this study....it is a fact that the quality of a man's sperm does gradually decline with age, so obviously a child produced by a 20 yr. old male will be more whole and healthy than a produced by a 50 yr. old male (assuming all other factors are held constant).
Yet another dumbed-down fourth hand abstract of a scientific study with some highly controversial headline. Do people actually take this trash seriously?
I know i turned out okay, my dad was 49 when I was born! Son of an immigrant and proud of it! No college and retired at 53, how dumb is that!
Here is an obvious explanation for the results of the study: If old men are having children, it is clearly with a much younger woman as older women are incapable of bearing offspring. As we know from the movies, old men like to go after young, beautiful women with no consideration of their mental acumen, so it is actually the maternal DNA that is skewing the results! It would be interesting to correlate the results to the mothers' IQ.
Lisa Belkin's quote on equalizing relationships of the sexes says it all. Really? I would imagine she is a big supporter of all of this "cougar" nonsense her friends in the media love to promote these days. Face it – there are differences between the genders no matter how much some (especially at the NYT) love to believe otherwise. Can we move on to real news now? Stop this silly gender warfare Lisa. Jason, your article basically said nothing.
They didn't control for socio-economic differences with the 6-point difference? They may as well have said a 6-point difference was their guess at what the difference would be.
Typical case of news trying to sell a story based on sensationalism and marketing toward a specific gender. While the premise sounds intriguing at the outset, there is absolutely no way of narrowing down/out all the potential variables which could contribute to this finding. The statistical model is simply too small to be conclusive in any way, so before everyone starts running to have kids at 20, think again. While I don't advocate having children at an advanced age, this effect could just as easily be something correlated to the mother (or purely independenct of age) as the father, but that possibility is never mentioned. So much for good science/empirics!
I don't see why women should be gleeful that older fathers have children with lower IQs. Women are attracted to older guys and these are your kids with the low IQ you're celebrating. Besides that point, why would you be gleeful about anyone's misfortune? Is seeing others fail the only way you can succeed?
this is a pretty lame study. in actuality, it's the dude that waited awhile that's the smart one anyway. why are people so concerned about procreation. earth is overcrowded. stop kicking out kids at every opportunity.
I also wonder whether they controlled for the fact that older fathers grew-up in an era where academic expectations and pressures were much reduced compared to those of today. Maybe they just don't care as much about academia, and as a result, don't train their children to be of the 'gifted' sort.
Again, Just because they get a significant result, doesn't mean the findings are useful. In fact, there are so many confounds with the age variable that it would be almost impossible to isolate a true effect.
It's probably due to the fact that younger fathers have more energy, and engage their children more. And the older fathers have a more laid back lifestyle, less energy. I'd bet it has nothing to do with the actual sperm of a fifty year old or twenty year old, and is rather entirely due to nurture.
Basically, the study is useless when you have a sample size of 33,000 and SES accounts for 67 percent of the obtained difference. I'd like to know what the standard deviation of the data was too... maybe around 1.2 to 2 points? Hahaha...
These findings are certainly nothing new in the scientific world (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/10/021018080014.htm). The solution for men is way easier than for women: store your seed until the time is right. Now, that doesn't mean men won't still look for a younger mate for a plethora of other reasons 🙂
Did this study control for the intelligence of the fathers?
If men who father children at age 50 are simply not as intelligent as men who father children earlier, then the test score result is very easily explained.