Age Difference In Dating – How Young Are Mail Order Brides?
It is no secret that a man who uses mail order bride services gets an advantage – he can get married to a significantly younger wife. But does it really work when it comes to marriage? Can age difference between couples spoil everything and ruin relationships? How old is a regular mail order bride? You will find the answers to these and many other questions about the age difference between man and woman for marriage below.
Age difference couples – statistics
According to the statistics, there are many age difference couples in Western countries, but the gaps of the same-ethnic couples are significantly smaller. The average age difference is a bit more than 2 years, and in 64% of couples, a husband is older than a wife. Age difference in marriage with an older woman is not very big, too, but only 23% of couples have such kind of gap. The remaining 13% are the couples that are less than a year apart in age.
The situation is a bit different for mail order brides and their husbands. In most cases, men are significantly older than women. In India, for example, the husband-wife age difference varies from 10 to 14 years. More precisely, the statistics for Indian mail order brides and their foreign boyfriends are as follows:
- Over 30% of future husbands are 10-14 years older than their wives.
- Over 27% of future husbands are 15-19 years older than their wives.
- In a few cases, the age gap is even larger.
The situation in other countries is very similar. Foreign brides are usually much younger than their foreign boyfriends, no matter if they live in Brazil or in Russia.
Why do women think that gaps in relationships with older men are okay?
A few decades ago the situation with the age gaps was a bit different, but males were, in general, older than their female mates, too. People used to see this as the evidence of biologically based, sex-specific characteristics in human mating patterns: it was argued that males were simply expressing a preference for more fecund females. Females, in turn, were considered to be expressing a preference for males more likely to offer material advantages which will increase the likelihood of their offspring's surviving to reproductive age.
But does this make any sense now, when the science is ready to led humanity to new horizons and when women can have children in their 40s and even 50s? Yes and no.
Women still feel safe with a husband who is older than they are – it is considered that an experienced man can protect a woman and care for her properly. This is not only about money but also about his knowledge, experience, confidence, and inner strength.
As for men, they usually look for attractive and positive-minded girls who do not mind accepting their roles of supporters and caregivers. Such women are not necessarily submissive, super-obedient wives – they are just grateful for everything a husband does for them. Most of these ladies have their own interests, preferences, and hobbies, and a lot of them build careers – they just believe that such a traditional family is the best model of the family, but it doesn’t mean that they focus only on the family responsibilities. There is no need to say that their husbands share this opinion.
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Final thoughts
Big age difference in marriage is quite typical for interethnic couples. This gap, however, is not viewed as the problem: the challenge, the difficulty that men and women need to overcome – this is viewed as the conservative family model. Though the 90s are gone, some people still believe that the fertility issue is still the main reason why it still exists, but it is not exactly true. Speaking of motivation, young ladies and older men are just looking for couples who have the same expectations and values when it comes to serious relationships, family values, and gender roles.
Marina Egerton is one of the most experienced professionals in the dating industry. She takes part in national conferences and has publications in the top media on psychology, relationships, and self-presentation. Marina creates helpful content that teaches men the tools, opportunities, and other features of international dating.
Logan Ury is the director of relationship science at the dating app Hinge. In this role, Logan leads a research group that helps people find love. With a command, she investigates the behaviors and attitudes of successful daters. Logan has publications in The New York Times, The Atlantic, GQ, and Glamour.-