1. Arianna Narayan
Professor Gannon
PS-273-A
16 April 2012
Nothing but a Number
Times are definitely changing, and no matter what, this may lead to negative or positive
progress. The issue of the differences between men and women has been lingering for ages, and
no matter what we women would like to think about our “new society”, men will always
somehow have the upper hand. When it comes to jobs, men get paid more, when it comes to
relationships, men get more respect, and something as little as the differences in the way men
and women age is put up to debate. We all have it in our heads that men grow older more
gracefully than women. With age, men become more handsome, and women just become old
news. This article brushed upon a concern that in movies, male actors are able to be significantly
older than female actresses in romantic relationship, and it seems to be okay. The minute an
older woman steps in to a relationship with a younger man, it causes controversy and the woman
is all of a sudden “babysitting” the man and she is a “cougar”.
The study that was done by Dr. Taylor was aimed to prove that relationships having an
older woman and a younger man were less favored than vice versa (an older man and a younger
woman). She passed out a questionnaire to two different groups (22 years of age and below/23
years of age and above), within the Sacred Heart University community. The initial hypothesis
was proposed that the subjects would object more to a relationship in which the woman was
older than the man. There were seven different types of conditions to the relationships that were
presented to the subjects. There was one that (a) consisted of both the male and female being the

2. same age (32 years old), the next was (b) a 39 year old male with a 32 year old female, (c) a 39
year old female and a 32 year old man, (d) a 32 year old female and a 44 year old man, (e) a 32
year old male and a 44 year old female, (f) a 32 year old female and a 50 year old man, (g) a 32
year old male and a 50 year old female. The scenario for the couple was that they fell in love
because they shared the same interests, lived close by, they were very attracted to one another
and felt extremely compatible.
The participants rated the relationship for the couple on a 6-point Likert scale ranging
from “this couple will get into frequent arguments” to “this couple will be together for a long
time”. The end results that came out of the study showed that there were some negative views for
couples that had the woman that was older than the man, however despite the preconceived
notions of what people thought about older women, there was only an issue when there was the
18 year gap between the ages in the people in the relationship. It was stated that college students
had greater leniency when it came to such a gap in age for couples than previous findings.
In psychology, it is said that most people in a relationship are of the same racial and
ethnic background, same religion, and same social status and around the same age. This is
because the couple relates more to the other person, and they are at around the same point in
their lives. I believe in this as well, especially with the issue of age. I do not have anything
whatsoever against having an older woman in a relationship, however large age differences in
general tend to lead to a failed relationship in my eyes.
I believe that this was a very essential study to conduct because it shows that our
preconceived notions about how different people view relationships are actually more negative
than it really is. I am very happy that this study was conducted because it was better to see
people not having a sexist view on relationships and how much of a contributing factor the age

3. of each partner would be on the relationship. This study was done quite thoroughly because not
only did it ask the participants what they thought females being older than males in relationships,
but it gave various age differences for participants to decipher what was acceptable and what was
not. Also, I believe that it was a beneficial idea to have the participants from different age groups
to give their opinions, however I would have liked to see more of a breakdown between males
and females. In the discussion section, I believe that it should have stated what the male
participants leaned more towards and what the female participants leaned more towards as to
what is acceptable. This would have given me a better idea of the differences between men and
women on this subject. Overall, this was a good study and it proved me wrong. I thought more
people would have a problem with relationships where the female was older than the male. In my
generation at this time in our lives, many of us tend to look down upon a relationship with a
female that is older than a male. I am glad to see that people have become more accepting on this
debate.
Perry, Jessica & Tobin, Marc. The Double Standard of Aging: Perceptions of Similarly and
Dissimilarly Aged Couples. Retrieved
fromhttps://blackboard.sacredheart.edu/bbcswebdav/courses/12SPPS273A/Article%20on%20Ag
ing%20-%20Taylor%20PS273.pdf