TL

“This does not mean that men are less co-operative, but some studies have shown that testosterone makes men more hierarchical, and dominating in relationships”

This may explain the tendency of the young. When we are young and hormones are raging we want to follow the hormones. As we mature the pull of the hormones lessens and gives us a chance to think and evaluate.

Many young people like the man in authority and the woman yielding to his big strong shoulders. I have suspected it is because of the sin nature described in Gen. 3:16. The woman has turned to the man in ways that she should be turning to God for. And the man responds to it naturally by trying to be a bit like a god to her which humanly comes out in some form of domination even benignly. It will work for a while for many, until real life sets in.

As a couple matures, the woman will often get tired of being controlled. When that happens either the man matures and relinquishes his control and they continue together to become more like Christ, or the woman knuckles under and lives a restricted and subdued life thinking she has to.