Predictors and Consequences of Involvement in Age-Discrepant Romantic Relationships

1. Predictors and Consequences of Involvement in Age-Discrepant Romantic Relationships Amy Bender Hanover College 2007

2. Questions • Who gets involved in age-discrepant relationships? • Are individuals involved in age-discrepant relationships less satisfied? • Why are they less satisfied?

3. Existing Research: Who becomes involved in age-discrepant relationships? • Demographic characteristics • People who become involved in age-discrepant relationships tend to be older, previously married, and have lower levels of education (Shenan, 2003). • Relationship attitudes • People who become involved in age-discrepant relationships tend to have had insecure attachments to caregivers as children (Prager, 1995).

4. Existing Research: What are the outcomes of these relationships? • Attitudes • Both adults and adolescents believe that age-discrepant relationships will be less successful than age-similar relationships, especially when the woman is older (Cowan, 1984).

5. Existing Research: What are the outcomes of these relationships? • Empirical Research • Zak (2001) found that individuals in age-discrepant relationships reported more unselfish, sacrificing love and experienced less jealousy than those in age-similar relationships.

6. Research Question 1 • What are the predictors of involvement in age-discrepant relationships? • Demographic characteristics • Ethnicity, relationship status, education level • Ages of parents • Social Learning Theory (Bandura)

7. Research Question 2 • Are people who are involved in age-discrepant relationships less satisfied than those who are involved in age-similar relationships? • Examine relationship satisfaction

8. Research Question 3 • What is the process by which age-discrepancy is linked to satisfaction? • Examine exchange orientation as the mediator • Under-benefiting versus over-benefiting exchange orientation (Sprecher, 1998)

9. Method • Participants - N= 69 (14 male, 55 female; 85% Caucasian) - Age range: 18 to 56 years (mean= 25 years) - Age difference range: 0 to 28 years • 43 younger partner, 10 same age, 15 older partner

10. Relationship Status

11. Education Level

12. Method • Participants answered questionnaires on-line • Demographic survey • Relationship satisfaction scale (Hendrick,1988) • Exchange-orientation scale (Sprecher, 1998)

13. Relationship Satisfaction Scale • 7-item scale assessing relationship satisfaction -How well does partner meet your needs? -Likert scale ranging from 1 (poorly) to 5 (extremely well). • Reliability: alpha = .90

14. Exchange-Orientation Scale • 40-item scale assessing amount of exchange within relationship -Under-benefiting: I usually do not forget if my partner owes me a favor. - Over-benefiting: I usually do not forget if I owe my partner a favor. -Likert scale ranging from 1(strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). • Reliability: UEO alpha= .85; OEO alpha= .81

15. Results • What are the predictors of involvement in age-discrepant relationships? Ethnicity: not significant Relationship status: not significant Education level: not significant Parents’ age difference: r = .27, p=.03

16. Results • Are people who are involved in age-discrepant relationships less satisfied than those who are involved in age-similar relationships? -Yes. However, the correlation between age-discrepancy and satisfaction is significant only among participants who were the younger partner, r = -.49, p= .001.

17. Results • What is the process by which age-discrepancy is linked to satisfaction? Does exchange orientation serve as a mediator? UEO B=.34, p=.024 B=-.29, p=.04 Age Discrepancy Satisfaction B=-.49, p=.001 B=-.39, p=.01

18. Discussion • People who are involved in age-discrepant relationships are more likely to have parents who are involved in an age-discrepant relationship • Younger partners in age-discrepant relationships are less satisfied, in part because they feel they are under-benefiting