Age Gap In Relationships: Does Love Really Have an Age?

“Love has no age”, is it really so? Each couple has their own opinion about the best age gap in relationships. Today, there are more and more cases when there is a big difference in age between spouses or partners. It could be 10, 15, and even 30 years. Such unions often happen with many show business stars. When a man is a rich businessman, and a girl is just starting her career. It is interesting to know that the biggest age gap relationships are in Hollywood. It is a couple of Katharine McPhee and David Foster. A man is older than a woman. The age gap between them is 34 years. As you can see, there can be any age difference. The main thing is to be happy with each other.

It’s no sense to argue about the age gap in relationships. Each couple has their own opinion and principles about the ideal age gap in relationships. For one couple it may be normal, but for others, it is completely unacceptable. In this article you will find an objective opinion about the age difference in relationships. We will figure out whether the age of partners in a couple is really so important. Or maybe is it just an opinion imposed by society?

What Is a Big Age Gap In Relationships?

What is the most common age gap in relationships? More than 10 years can be considered a popular tangible age difference between a man and a woman. If the age difference is smaller, then some difficulties may appear, but the probability of their occurrence is significantly lower than in a couple where the difference is 10 years or more.

How much of an age gap is OK? The optimal difference is the one in which the man is older than the woman by about 5 years. However, this is a very subjective opinion, which may work great in some respects and not work at all in others.

What is the appropriate age gap in relationships? In each couple, everything is always individual, and a good relationship does not depend on the difference in age, not on whether you are the same age or not, but on mutual respect, trust, and the level of maturity of a person. Let’s look at the advantages and disadvantages of couples with a difference in age.

Problems In Relationships With an Age Gap

Is a 15 year age difference too much? For many couples the answer is different, but it is worth saying that you may face relationship problems. It cannot be said that there are a lot of problems, but nevertheless, it is clear that they can arise due to the difference in the age of the partners. It is possible to distinguish such problems:

Relations are built on the basis of the number of problems/tasks that have to be solved in any case. Different views on life situations suggest that in this pair, someone will be the leader, and someone will be the follower since the experience of the past years always leaves its mark. The position of “mentor” and chief of one of the partners in a pair is present here.

If you do not take couples of star Hollywood, then in ordinary couples there is a big minus, this is the loss of attractiveness of an older partner.

What’s the average age gap in relationships? This is 5 years, just such couples are in a happy long-term marriage.

Is a 10 year age difference too much? Such an age gap can be possible, only a man is older. Because, most often, couples where a woman is older break up more often due to betrayal and misunderstanding, and where a man is older, this happens less often, since he is a reliable support in the family and often he also decides all financial issues.

When a Man Is Much Older Than a Woman… 

The psychology of relationships between couples with a large age gap has its own characteristics, including its own power dynamic in age gap relationships. 

If the average age gap in relationships is 10 years (a man is older), then in such unions girls can count on respect, devotion, and care, but their partners will expect the same attitude toward themselves.

As a rule, a woman chooses a more mature companion in several cases:

• The need for a mentor. A mature man has a lot of life experience that can be adopted.
• The financial benefit. Young guys often need financial support, and older men have already achieved a lot. For some of the fair sex, the presence of a good car in a man and the opportunity to drive his lady to a restaurant plays a huge role. Also, girls in the modern world dream of successfully marrying, so as not to work, but to take care of children or only themselves.
• The girl misses her father. The girl chooses a companion who is much older, precisely because she needs a father. She did not receive at one time her father’s attention and care, because she was brought up only by her mother.
• Love. Of course, it cannot be ruled out that the fairer sex simply fell in love with a man older than herself.

Relationships Where She Is Older… What Are They Like?

Rare is the situation when a woman is older than a man by 5 years (suitable age gap in relationships) or more. Are these relationships long-term? Let’s look into this in more detail.

Benefits of relationships in which the woman is older

Here’s what we can highlight about relationships with an age difference:

1. Young men are more romantic than older women of the same age. So she will be exactly happy because of dates, gifts, romantic adventures – all this will be in relationships.
2. There is no need to explain here: reckless youth captivates with the sharpness of sensations. However, enjoying these emotions for a long time will not work. For a serious relationship, you still want to be close to a reliable and responsible person.
3. In a relationship with a young guy, a woman draws vitality, which allows her to maintain good physical shape.
4. Young men are more accommodating and ready to compromise. They have not yet fully formed a system of views and preferences, so a wise woman can teach her chosen one everything that an ideal man needs to know and be able to do.

Disadvantages in a relationship where the woman is older

Exactly the same number of shortcomings are paired with the difference in the age of the partners:

• An obstacle to the happiness of a couple can be the rejection of society (friends, relatives, acquaintances). Of course, when a wife is 5 years older than her husband, this is not as noticeable as when the age difference is 20 years. The bigger the gap, the more people will discuss your family. You need to prepare yourself mentally for this and agree not to react to the caustic remarks of others.
• The gap in the financial situation is another minus of unequal marriages. By middle age, women already have some professional experience behind them and earn enough to support themselves. Young guys are just getting on the first steps of the career ladder, so you should not expect strong financial support from them.
• There is a risk that, over time, the wife will act as a mother for her husband. Infantilism in men is not such a rare occurrence, and in the presence of a partner who is much older, this character trait can intensify. Spouses should clearly outline the boundaries, roles, and responsibilities in the family in order to prevent such a scenario.

Summing Up

What is a normal age gap in relationships? Each relationship is individual, and there is no specific concept about what difference in the age of partners is considered the norm, and what is not. If there is love, mutual understanding, emotional safety, and sincere feelings in a relationship, nothing (age gap included) can become an obstacle to them on the way to a happy family life.