Between desire and realityWomen and men prefer younger people on blind dates
SDA
28.1.2025 - 05:35
However, the study did not investigate whether the first attraction led to a long-term relationship. (archive picture)
Picture:Keystone
Who falls in love with whom? It is said that women prefer men who are a few years older. A study on blind dates shows otherwise.
Keystone-SDA
28.01.2025, 05:35
28.01.2025, 05:55
SDA
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In most heterosexual couples, the woman is younger than the man.
But in a study on blind dates, both women and men on average found younger people slightly more attractive than older ones.
Researchers previously assumed that men wanted younger partners and women wanted older partners.
The results of the study show a slightly different picture: After a blind date, participants were slightly more attracted to younger partners, and this trend applied equally to men and women.
In most heterosexual couples, the woman is younger than the man. However, in a study on blind dates, both men and women found younger people slightly more attractive on average than older ones. To this end, 6262 people provided information about their feelings after their meetings, which had been arranged by a dating agency.
The US study analyzed the preferences of people who had used a dating service in search of a long-term relationship. Their ages ranged from 22 to 85, with an average age of 46.8. As some participants had several blind dates - i.e. first-time meetings - the team analyzed over 9,000 questionnaires, as reported in the "Proceedings" of the US National Academy of Sciences ("PNAS").
According to a UN survey, men worldwide are on average around four years older than women when they get married for the first time, the team writes. Researchers previously assumed that this reflected the preferences of both sexes: Men wanted younger partners and women wanted older partners. In Germany, for example, women were 32.6 years old on average when they married for the first time in 2022, while men were 35.1 years old, as reported by the Federal Statistical Office.
The study results show a slightly different picture: "After a blind date, participants were slightly more attracted to younger partners, and this trend applied equally to men and women," said lead author Paul Eastwick from the University of California at Davis. This suggests that men and women find younger people slightly more attractive in a situation of first approach - "whether they realize it or not".
The result also held true when the data set was limited to blind dates with women aged 40 or younger. The man's income did not play a major role for women. However, the study did not investigate whether the first attraction led to a long-term relationship.
Theory and practice
Before the blind dates, men and women were also asked about the upper age limit for a potential partner. The men named a younger age than the women. However: "People were generally attracted to younger partners, regardless of whether the partner was below or above the participant's personal upper age limit," writes the research team.
But how can the results be explained given the real age differences between couples? "It is possible that women are initially attracted to young men, but these pairings of older women and younger men are more likely to wither away somewhere between a first date and relationship formation than others as the disadvantages of the men's youth come to the fore," the researchers suggest.
Another possibility is that the age preferences of men and not those of women have so far been decisive in the formation of relationships. In countries with less equality, the age difference between men and women is particularly large.
According to Eastwick's team, an earlier study on speed dating with 10,526 adults with an average age of 33 had already shown that both men and women were more attracted to younger partners. In speed dating, the first meeting only lasts a few minutes. In theory, women stated that they preferred older partners, but in practice they found younger men more attractive.
Eastwick's research team cites the fact that not every woman confides her emotional life to an expert as a limitation of their study. It is therefore possible that the women taking part in the study were generally more willing to go beyond culturally and historically predetermined couple conventions. It could also be that older men in the analysis - quite apart from their age - had unattractive characteristics that made women feel less attracted to them. Furthermore, social norms may be changing, which could lead to a new openness on the part of women towards younger partners.