What is the average age difference between couples

The limited evidence on same-sex couples, however, suggests the prevalence rates are higher. But what these trends tell us is that the majority of the population is likely to partner with someone of similar age. This largely has to do with having social circles that generally include peers of similar ages and being attracted to others who are similar. Similarity entails many things, including personality, interests and values, life goals and stage of life, and physical traits age being a marker of physical appearance.

Many of the reasons proposed for age-gap couples have been largely rooted in evolutionary explanations, and focus on explaining older man-younger woman pairings. Read more: The science of romance — can we predict a breakup? Although men and women place importance on a partner who is warm and trustworthy, women place more importance on the status and resources of their male partner.

This is largely because, with women being the child bearers, the investment is very high on their behalf time and effort in child bearing and rearing. So they are attuned to looking for a partner who will also invest resources into a relationship and family. But because the building of resources takes time, we tend to acquire resources later in life and so are older by the time we have acquired enough wealth and resources to comfortably provide for others.

For this, socio-cultural explanations might provide insights. With more women working, in higher positions and being paid more, they no longer have such a reliance on men for resources. So fewer women will prioritise resources when looking for a mate.

Some suggest a lack of , or a reduced pool of, suitable age-similar mates may bring about same-sex coupling with large age differences. Many people assume that age-gap couples fare poorly when it comes to relationship outcomes. However, Buddhist men and women do not differ much on this measure.

These patterns partly reflect the large share of Christians in sub-Saharan Africa, where single-parent households are relatively common, and the big shares of Buddhists in Asia, where such households are rare. Middle-aged men tend to live in single-parent homes at about the same rate all over the world and regardless of religion; any differences in rates of single parenthood affect women almost exclusively.

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Use this tool to compare the groups on some key topics and their demographics. Pew Research Center now uses as the last birth year for Millennials in our work. President Michael Dimock explains why. About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world.

It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts. Would he be appalled by my tiny studio apartment, which I could barely afford? We continued to date until, eventually, our lifestyles proved drastically different.

His career and financial situations were a far cry from mine, and the idea of things getting serious felt rushed and scary to me. So I let our connection slip away, allowing my concern over our age difference to overshadow our passion. It was ultimately the right call, I felt, and experts seem to agree. The truth is that age is not just a number, says Seth Meyers, Ph.

A relationship age gap bigger than 10 years often comes with its own set of issues. Couples with a big age difference need to think things through or risk finding themselves at conflicting stages in their relationship.

But at the same time, I still keep an open mind—a big age gap doesn't have to be a nonstarter.