24 Jun , 22:56
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The older a woman gets, the harder it is for her, based on her own perception, to find a partner. This factor proved more powerful than income, education, and even the state of the local economy. This is the conclusion reached by researchers from the Queensland University of Technology and the University of Melbourne — their work was published in the journal Evolutionary Psychology (EP).
A total of 1,072 adult users of Australian online dating services took part in the large-scale survey — 875 men and 197 women. Respondents were asked how difficult, in their view, it was to find a partner in their area, how easy it was for men to get well-paying jobs, and to what extent women were financially dependent on their partners. The researchers overlaid the responses with objective data on income, unemployment, and sex ratios — down to specific postal codes.
Age turned out to be the strongest predictor of how a person assessed their chances on the dating market. Young women aged 18 to 35 generally did not see significant difficulties in finding a partner. However, after 40, the picture changed dramatically — women began to perceive the dating market as extremely competitive. The authors emphasize that this shift coincides with the peak childbearing years, when financial dependence on a partner objectively increases, and along with it, the perception of relationships transforms as well.
Men generally believed that it was significantly easier for women to find a partner than it was for them — and the gap in this perception was noticeably larger among men than among women. High personal income correlated with a more optimistic assessment of one's own chances — and this held true for both sexes.
A curious detail: in areas with high unemployment, women rated the dating market as more active. The authors' explanation is quite straightforward: people without jobs have more time for socializing, and their material expectations of a potential partner are significantly lower.
