One thing is clear - nothing brings out more opinions than other people’s love lives.īuunk & colleagues wrote a paper investigating how factors such as age, gender, and type of romantic relationship (casual, serious, marriage, etc.) affect the age limits people place on potential romantic partners. Articles and blog posts alternate between claiming age absolutely matters in a relationship and age absolutely doesn’t matter in a relationship. This made me wonder, does the creepiness rule actually reflect what is socially acceptable when it comes to age differences in dating? In other words, does the creepiness rule actually reflect what society finds…creepy? What the Research Says When I flipped the genders - a 50 year old woman dating a 32 year old man - people’s responses often flipped as well. Reactions ranged from “sure” to “that’s weird” to “why are you asking me this?”. A quick poll of my friends says otherwise.
The “creepiness rule” states that the youngest you should date is “half your age plus seven.” The less commonly used corollary is that the oldest you should date is “subtract seven from your age and double it.”Īccording to this rule, society should accept a 50 year old man dating a 32 year old woman. The real rules about how old and young you can date.