(Posted by Maya)

May-December: Canadians in age-discrepant relationships
Canadian Social Trends Autumn 2003
by Monica Boyd and Anne Li

North Americans often assume that most married or common-law partners are close in age to each other and this, in fact, tends to be the case most of the time. There are, however, exceptions, couples with substantial age gaps between them. Although the typical pattern for age-discrepant marriages is the so-called “May–December” relationship, in which the woman is much younger than the man, the reverse also may hold.  Read entire article now.

Maya’s Critical Review

This article appeared in Statistics Canada’s “Canadian Social Trends” publication in the fall of 2003. It is a study of Canada’s 2001 Census of Population, with a focus on age-gap unions. I have been unable to find citations of this article, but I believe that, despite dealing exclusively with Canadian data, it provides important information that may have resonance with Americans as well.

The authors concluded that married couples having a substantial age difference do indeed exist in Canada, although they are less common than those couples that are nearer in age. It was found that younger women/older men couplings are more common than younger men/older women pairings. Age-gap couples are also more likely to be in common-law unions, especially younger women/older men couples.

In pairings where the man is older by a minimum of ten years, there is greater likelihood that both partners belong to visible minority groups. More alarming is the fact that “age discrepant couples are…more likely than others to be below the low income cut-offs.” It does not say that all of them are poor, only that there is this increased likelihood. These findings are clearly stated in the summary section, and are more fully developed in the rest of the article.

The article is very well-written and well-researched, although I find the style to be best-suited for readers with at least some college or university education. The writing, unbiased and scientific as it is, is full of numerical data and jargon which some readers may find difficult to interpret. However, there are three bar graphs and two charts that illustrate certain trends.

The authors are Monica Boyd, a Visiting Research Scholar at StatCan and Canada Research Chair at the University of Toronto, and Anne Li, a former subject matter/information technology officer with Housing, Family and Social Statistics Division, Statistics Canada. When I contacted Ms. Boyd back in November 2007, she said that she was not up to date on the topic and could not comment further on it. She suggested I contact another professor, but that, too, lead nowhere. For now, let’s be thankful that we at least have this article for reference.

Maya’s Commentary

I found this article to be a tough one to wade through, and tougher still to reconcile with my previous beliefs (it was a big shocker when I first read it). I mean, the most common notion about older guys is that they’ll be able to provide for you, and earn more according to their seniority, if that makes sense. Mothers always tell their daughters to look for someone mature, stable, and financially secure, and we find that older men most often fit the bill. But, and this is a big but, this is not always the case.

My intention in reviewing this article is not to scare younger women out of dating older men – or, for that matter, younger men out of dating older women – but only to make you aware of this possibility. Personally, I think that if the two of you earn enough to own a computer and actually read this, you’re safe. This article serves more to shine a light on the relationship situation of people in the lower stratum of society. It is not a guide to making these relationships work; it is merely the examination of a trend. And if you don’t fit into it, more power to you.

In my future writings on the topic of age-gap relationships I will look at other possible deterrents or caveats to dating older individuals, but please take them with a grain of salt. There are pros and cons to any decision in life, and ultimately it is you who makes the relationship successful – or not. My job is to report on the available age-gap literature, and draw your attention to items of interest. I only wish that a similar review of American data existed somewhere in cyberspace.

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