Intimate Moments: Dating

People almost universally agree that dating is hard, and that doesn’t change whether you are in your 20s, 40s, or 60s. But if you are on the market, where do you look to meet someone?

Dating In Your 20s

Dating in your 20s is statistically when you are most likely to meet and marry your spouse. The average age for first marriage is 28 for women and 30 for men. In your 20s there are statistically more choices- you meet people at college, bars, church groups, career groups, internships, and post-graduate programs are all natural places to make a connection. The challenge of dating in your 20s is your lack of life experience and your lack of financial means.

Dating In Your 30s

Once you reach your 30s, you have improved your financial means and gained valuable life experiences, but your dating pool has started to shrink. Most people are no longer in college, and may find that there are fewer chance to meet someone that aligns with their age and interests in a bar. Church and career groups are still used to find dates, and blind dates from friends become more common. In your 30s you can also meet people in hobbyist groups like running or cycling leagues. By your late 30s you have usually started to establish some roots, and online dating becomes more popular.

Dating In Your 40s

When you are dating in your 40s the dating pool may not be much smaller than it was in your 30s, but it is definitely different. Some people are still looking for their first spouse, others have been married before. The chances that people have kids goes up, and if you have kids it can be even trickier trying to navigate dating- when do you introduce kids, how do you handle co-parenting, and how do you integrate two different sets of kids into one family? By the time you are in your 40s you know what you like and what you do not. Your life is more settled, so change is harder. If you have been out of the dating pool and are newly back in you can feel out of practice. Women in their 40s often have a smaller friend group than they did in their 20s, but have stronger friendships. Quality friendships are amazing, but it means that you are less likely to meet someone through friends. Online dating is most common for people in their 40s looking to meet someone.

Dating In Your 50s

If you are dating in your 50s you probably feel out of practice and possibly overwhelmed. The dating pool is smaller and all of the same questions about divorce and kids and blended families can still apply. If you are a parent in your early 50s you likely have teenagers at home- and teenagers can be taxing on parents, leaving little time to think about dating. To make things more complicated while most people in the dating pool are divorced, some are recently widowed. Women in their 50s are unlikely to meet someone through friends- most friends and their friends are married. Women in their 50s are more likely to meet someone through church or hobby groups. With the growth of social media more and more women report finding men from their past who are also no longer in a relationship, and they choose to rekindle old flames. With sites specifically for those over 50, online dating is growing in popularity as well.

Dating In Your 60s And Beyond

Dating in your 60s often comes with hesitation at first. Usually, women have been in a relationship that ended either through divorce or death and it can take time to heal from that pain, and sometimes women wonder if they are too old to start a new relationship. Luckily, it is never too late to seek a relationship. It is true that dating in your 60s or later means a reduced dating pool. But on the positive side, once women realize that dating can be for them, it often carries less stress than earlier ages. Kids are grown and the stress of blending families is lessened. Women in their 60s are most likely to meet someone in groups they are involved in, be that church, special interests, or hobbies. This could be a senior cooking class, or gardening group, or any other interest you have. While the majority meet someone through special interest activities and groups, some women meet someone through online dating for seniors. And some women in their 60s and 70s also use social media to rekindle old flames, or get set up with help from their adult children.