People think the younger women prefer being in a relationship with older men because they have daddy issues. But boy are they wrong!
Editor's note: This article was originally published on May 22, 2020. It has since been updated.
Love is blind, they say. But is that really true? Many questions and prying eyes follow younger women who date older men. For some people, it works. For some, it is less about love and more about having a trophy wife. There are many reasons that we have contemplated why older men leave their wives after falling for younger women. There are multiple movies like Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin-starrer It's Complicated or the TV show The Modern Family. Hollywood has enough couples like Michael Douglas-Catherine Zeta-Jones and George Clooney-Amal Clooney to show us that there are many positive relationships as well despite the age gap. These are soulmates who will be with each other forever.
But what is it that draws younger women to older men? Is it really all about daddy issues and being a gold-digger? We think not.
Here are seven reasons why younger women are attracted to older men:
Zoologist Stephen Proulx thinks it's because of genetic strength. "If males can display ostentatiously at that age then they really have to have something going for them," he told The Observer, according to the Guardian. If an older man can look attractive, show wealth and success at a later stage in life, it is equated with strong genes.
St. Mary’s University’s (Halifax) Sara Skentelbery and Darren Fowler studied the age-gap relationships from an evolutionary perspective. Their study, Attachment Styles Of Women - Younger Partners In Age-Gap Relationships, found that humans work in ways to guarantee the future of the species. As women grow older, their reproduction ability decreases so older men get attracted towards younger, more fertile women.
The same study found that those in age-gapped heterosexual romantic relationships don't have different attachment styles than women in similar-age relationships. It is commonly believed that women choose older partners because of “daddy issues”, but that was unfounded in this study. "There was no significant difference in attachment styles between the 2 groups, and 74% of the women in age-gap relationships were securely attached," the study found. However, it is about security. "The older man represents socially valued attributes that lead his younger partner to want to bond with him," says Psychology Today.
Older men know themselves and don't display insecurities, lack of clarity, and directionlessness that many of their younger counterparts do. They are full of charisma and it is great to be around them. They boost your confidence. Women also like that older men are mature, according to a five-month study by dating site WhatsYourPrice.
An older man is more likely to have property and wealth. According to Psychology Today, the mature man with most appeal is the one with financial prosperity and are willing to share it with their partner. Similarly, the older man believes that they'll gain more power and status when with a younger and glamorous partner.
Both men and women get better at communication as they age because of life experiences and the lessons they teach us. For men, especially, it is with age that they learn to listen and connect with others. Older men would be interested in having more companionship, which includes building a bond by communicating, rather than focusing on the physical aspect of the relationship all the time.
With a clear sense of the self comes a clear sense of fashion choices as well. The older man would know how to tie a bow or a tie. They would also know how to look dapper in a tuxedo. They have probably experimented over the years to perfect the style that suits them best. You won't need to redo their wardrobe (or have fights about it), which is a real possibility with younger men.
References:
https://www.whatsyourprice.com/blog/buying-down-the-age-gap-disadvantage/
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2003/mar/02/evolution.genetics
