Dating and age-gap relationships have seen significant shifts over the years, particularly for Gen Z and millennials. As societal norms, cultural trends and influential figures evolve, so do the dynamics of these relationships, reflecting broader changes in the social landscape and psychological insights. Generation Z, which encompasses the population born between the mid-1990s to early 2010s, has embraced a rather progressive view towards the age difference in relationships. This generation is very conscious, especially of the power imbalance when dating someone older or younger than them, due to the popular #MeToo movement.
According to a study co-authored by Justin Lehmiller, a research fellow at the Kinsey Institute in US, and the host of the Sex and Psychology Podcast, such couples endure considerably more social disapproval compared to lovers in gay and interracial relationships. If Gen Z is against the idea of age-gap relationships, then Millennials are more open to accepting such kinds of relationships. This generation which ranges from the early 1980s up to the mid 1990s has been brought up under a different social culture.
According to the Pew Research Center, Millennials are more likely than previous generations to have a positive view of age-gap relationships.
It is essential not to consider all the age-gap couples to be in a completely wrong relationship, as stated by Gigi Engle, a certified sex and relationship psychotherapist. Engle told HuffPost that power imbalances make these relationships a problematic subject, but many age-gap partnerships are consensual and have always been present.
Here are notable examples:
George and Amal Clooney: Despite this age gap of 17 years, they have become role models of a happy May-December relationship that people adore to witness.
Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra: This has given society food for thought as to the appropriateness of coupling between two individuals of different age brackets with a decade difference in this particular couple.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Sam Taylor-Johnson: This couple has also been criticised especially because they are 23 years apart in age, but they are still very much together.
A survey conducted by YouGov revealed that a combined 5% of Americans think that a 20-year age difference is acceptable. This study also established the fact that every person accepts the old man to be in a relationship with a young woman rather than accepting a woman of such age to be in a relationship with a young man.
Counselling Psychologists conducted a survey where they stated that the couples who were in their large generation-gap marriages displayed lower levels of satisfaction and higher levels of conflicts as compared to those in small generation-gap marriages. On the other hand, a study done by the Journal of Population Economics in 2015 observed that a bigger age gap reduced the level of satisfaction in marriage only in the initial 10 years of marriage.
Another recent survey carried out by Bumble shows a marked attitude change towards age gaps in relationships among Indians. Regarding the awareness respondents had about age-gap relationships, 84% of them opined that society was more accepting of such relationships now than before. This means that there is a social change that allows different structures of relationships.
A surprising percentage of 81% of Indians said that age does not play a decisive role in the happiness of the relationship and most people value emotional connection over age gaps. 73% of participants pointed to the fact that in couples, the value of the age difference decreases as the partners are older.
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