E
Edmund_Kemper
Disregard my larping efforts. I can’t change it.
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- Joined
- Sep 26, 2019
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Age-gap relationships were harshly judged by people and seen as inequitable. They believed that the older person would receive more benefits at the expense of the younger person. Nonetheless, the participants rated the older man dating the younger woman more harshly than the older woman and younger man. Both however, were rated much more harshly compared to age similar couples. There were 99 participants ages 19 to 63 years old (mean age=29.49, SD=7.23) (62 men, 35 women, and 2 people who did not pick a gender) recruited from Amazon's MTurk.
Older men dating younger women were rated 50.7 (SD=33.04) but older women dating younger men were rated 55.45 (SD=32.6).As seen in Fig. 1, people expressed greater prejudice towards young men’s relationships when they partnered with older (M = 55.45, SD = 32.60), rather than younger women (M = 81.95, SD = 20.17), t(97) = −7.45, p < .001, d = .97.1 Similarly, people expressed greater prejudice towards older men’s relationships when they partnered with younger (M = 50.70, SD = 33.04), rather than older women (M = 80.08, SD = 22.45), t(97) = −8.34, p < .001, d = 1.04. Planned contrasts revealed that, in general, age-gap couples (M = 52.84, SD = 31.36) were liked significantly less than age-matched couples (M = 80.70, SD = 19.19), t(97) = −8.61, p < .001, d = 1.07.
Then participants rated how they perceived inequity in relationships based on age-gender dynamics. "Participants inferred the extent to which each relationship was inequitable using a 7- point scale, ranging from 1 (He is getting a much better deal than she is) to 7 (She is getting a much better deal than he is). The midpoint of the scale was labeled 4 (They are both getting the same, equal deal)."
As seen in Fig. 2, people perceived greater inequity within older men’s relationships when they partnered with younger (M = 3.44, SD = 1.91), rather than older women (M = 4.44, SD = 1.08), t(97) = 5.70, p < .001, d = .65. Such that, older men were perceived to benefit more when they partnered with younger women than older women. Similarly, people perceived significantly greater inequity within younger men’s relationships when they partnered with older (M = 4.95, SD = 1.60), rather than younger women (M = 4.58, SD = 1.06), t(96) = −2.02, p < .05, d = 0.27. Planned contrasts revealed that, in general, age-gap couples (M = 52.84, SD = 31.36) were liked significantly less than age-matched couples (M = 80.70, SD = 19.19), t(97) = −8.61, p < .001, d = 1.07.
They found that the more a person perceived inequity in an age gap relationship, the more harshly they judged an age gap relationship, but the more they perceived inequity in an age-match relationship did NOT increase their negative perception of an age-match relationship.
And age gap couples were judged much more harshly than mixed-socioeconomic status couples (rich dates poor), mixed-weight (fat person and thin person together) couples and interracial couples.