My comments on age differences.

The consideration of a large age difference between the pair in a relationship is primarily dependent upon the two people in the relationship and their attitudes regarding that age difference. Age can be a major factor in a relationship or it can be as minor as you make it. The choice is typically up to you and your partner. Think about the consequences and the advantages. For younger women, dating an older man can be exciting and fulfilling if they can find one who is dating them for the right reasons. Often the older partner will have some life experience that the younger partner can appreciate. For example a younger woman can appreciate, maturity and lack of game playing when she is ready to move beyond the games and pleasure-seeking attitudes of the more younger men in her life. Each person must determine the attributes that are really important to them in the person they are seeking to be with. On the other hand an older, experienced woman is able to mentor a younger man and make him more able to be a satisfactory partner and her needs may be biologically in tune with a younger man. Life experience will play out differently for different couples with big age differences as the culture, manners, history, current events, and life situation have all made their impact differently on both members of the pair. These differences can help the couple grow and learn about and with each other, increasing relationship cohesion, or they can become issues that separate the pair. In some cases these experiences will be a mixture in impacting them. However, if you feel an age difference is a bad thing and you are unable to overcome the feeling, it’s likely that you will feel the same way when in a relationship. Nonetheless, for some women, the older man can be attractive when he presents himself as a more mature partner. After the college years, many women start to mature beyond of the same old behaviors they find the men in their age group still enjoying. As a result, these women seek out older men who act with more sophistication and class. These men may be worldly, financially secure, and over many of the games they played in their younger years. Anthropologist Margaret Mead believed in big age differences stating that older women (age 36) should teach younger men (age 19) as partners. While older men (40) should teach younger woman (20). She actually believed in the changing of partners as healthy and to the advantage of both parties. On the negative side, when out in public unless a couple looks similar in age, there may well be looks of disapproval. There is social stigmas attached to such relationships, although stigma is decreasing. If, as a couple that will not bother you, then it will not matter. However if it bothers even one of you it may impact the relationship negatively. Another problem is the health of the older person may become a factor, impacting the couple's life style and activities and even requiring a caretaker role. The couple should take this into consideration when making their choices. Additionally there is some research suggesting age differences become less important as both parties in the relationship get older and infidelity decreases in older couples. So that is my discussion on age differences. In short it has advantages and disadvantages and depends on the couple.