UNLABELLED: A prospective partner’s sexual history provides important information that can be used to minimise mating-related risks. Such information includes the number of past sexual partners, which has an inverse relationship with positive suitor evaluation. However, sexual encounters with new partners vary in frequency over time, providing an additional dimension of context not previously considered. Across three studies (N = 5,331) with 15 samples, we demonstrate that the impact of past partner number on a suitor’s desirability as a long-term partner varies as a function of distribution over time. Using graphical representations of a suitor’s sexual history, we found that past partner number effects were smaller when the frequency of new sexual encounters decreased over time. This moderation effect was stronger, and often curvilinear, when past partner numbers were higher. We replicated these findings in 11 countries from five world regions. Sex differences were minimal and inconsistent pointing to a lack of a sexual double standards. Sociosexuality (openness to casual sex) was a consistent moderator and tended to mute the sexual history effects. These findings suggest that people not only attend to a potential long-term mate’s quantity of sexual partners, but also the context surrounding these encounters such as pattern and timing. Together, the findings raise the possibility of an evolved mechanism for managing mating risks present in both sexes and across populations and adds nuance to a contentious topic of public interest. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1038/s41598-025-12607-1.

Department of Experimental Psychology Institute of Psychology University of Sao Paulo Sao Paulo Brazil

Department of Experimental Psychology Institute of Psychology University of São Paulo São Paulo Brazil

Department of Life Sciences Brunel University London Uxbridge UK

Department of Psychology Aberystwyth University Aberystwyth UK

Department of Psychology and Life Sciences Faculty of Humanities Charles University Pátkova Czechia

Department of Psychology Faculty of Arts Charles University Prague Czechia

Department of Psychology Faculty of Philosophy Fundação Santo André Santo André Brazil

Department of Psychology Fudan University Shanghai China

Department of Psychology Norwegian University of Science and Technology Trondheim Norway

Department of Psychology University of Macau Macau China

Department of Psychology University of Texas at Austin Austin USA

Department of Social Sciences University of Nicosia Nicosia Cyprus

IDN Being Human Lab Institute of Psychology University of Wrocław Wroclaw Poland

Institute of Psychology University of Wrocław Wrocław Poland

Psychology Research Institute University of Economics and Human Sciences Warsaw Poland

School of Psychology Charles Sturt University Wagga Wagga Australia

School of Psychology Swansea University Swansea UK

School of Psychology University of Kent Canterbury UK

School of Psychology University of Nottingham Malaysia Semenyih Malaysia

Erratum v

Sci Rep. 2025 Sep 12;15(1):32492. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-17764-x. PubMed

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