New research has found that a couple’s age gap can determine the length of the relationship. So what is the ideal age gap?
Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash
Age is just a number
The concept of dating someone older is raising a lot more eyebrows nowadays. This is great, because there used to be a time when a middle-aged man could marry a minor like it was no big deal.
There are some cases though that raise eyebrows for all the wrong reasons. Take for example the unwarranted brouhaha over the relationship between French President, Emmanuel Macron, 39, and his wife, Brigitte Trogneux, 64.
They have an age gap of 25 years, and Macron recently spoke about the international obsession with their age gap.
“If I was 20 years older than my wife, nobody would think for a single second that we couldn’t be legitimately together,“ he told Le Parisien.
“It’s because she is 20 years older than me that a lot of people say, ‘this relationship can’t be tenable, it can’t be possible.’”
Ideal age gap
Of course, there will always be exceptions to the rule, but a study has shown that some age gaps are more likely to end badly.
A study conducted by Emory University in Atlanta revealed that the wider the age gap, the higher the chances of separation.
The study analysed 3,000 people and found that couples with a five year age gap are 18% more likely to split up than couples of the same age.
And it gets more interesting. The figure rose to 39% for couples with 10-year age gaps. Then it rose to 95% for those with 20-year age gaps.
The researchers believe that the sweet spot is in a one-year age gap between spouses. Why? Because the likelihood of their separation is at 3%.
“It could just be that the types of couples with those characteristics are the types of couples who are, on average, more likely to divorce for other reasons,” said Hugo Mialon, one of the researchers behind the study.
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