Recent research has flipped the script on dating preferences, suggesting that women aren’t just on the lookout for older men. In fact, a study involving over 6,000 blind daters found that both men and women are often drawn to younger partners after their initial meetings.
Many people assume that older men are the preference in relationships because that’s what we often see in long-term couples. However, this study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, indicates otherwise. Researchers discovered that after short dates, both genders rated their younger dates as more appealing.
Paul Eastwick, a psychology professor at UC Davis and the lead author of the study, noted that these findings might surprise many. Traditionally, it’s been accepted that women tend to prefer older partners. In marriages worldwide, men are typically about four years older than their wives. The gap is less than three years in places like Europe and North America, while in sub-Saharan Africa, it can exceed eight years.
Statistics from the U.S. census show that in half of married couples, the man is at least two years older than the woman. In contrast, only 14% of couples have women who are older by the same margin. In England and Wales, nearly a third of married couples have an age difference of five years or more.
The study also highlights the curious case of notable couples with older women, like French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte, who is 24 years his senior. However, the preference for younger partners in the study appears modest and unlikely to spark a trend where older women predominantly date younger men.
Interestingly, the results showed daters prefer the younger partner 55% of the time. This preference isn’t overt, but it accumulates significantly. If women may initially find younger men appealing, one theory suggests that challenges arise as those men’s youth starts to show disadvantages in relationships.
Another reason older women often end up with younger partners might be that men exercise their preferences more assertively. In recent years, the age gap in relationships in Europe and the U.S. has narrowed, likely linked to improving gender equality. Eastwick also mentioned that older women may avoid the dating scene, wanting to avoid traditional roles that may come with dating younger men.
A separate study found that as people age, they prefer younger partners more. While men often start dating younger women, women generally begin with older men, then tend to seek partners their age in midlife and shift to younger men as they enter retirement.
Eastwick suggests that there’s wisdom in being open-minded about dating options. He believes that if more people embraced dates with older women, we might begin to notice a rise in “age-reversed” couples.
