Age Difference Gap in Relationship Can Work (Essay Sample)

Age Difference Gap in Relationship Can Work
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Age Difference Gap in Relationship Can Work
Introduction
Relationships are part of human life and many people worldwide get involved so as to form partners for marriage and other purposes. A strong and stable relationship is desirable to many people and would lead to a successful marriage. The strength of a relationship is determined by many factors within and without the individuals involved. Individuals have to bear in mind these factors so as to form partners for relationships and even proceed to marriage. Factors influencing relationships are mainly determined by the cultures of people as well as the environment one is exposed to as he or she grows up. The issue of age is widely discussed and applied in the selection of partners for relationships in the modern society. There are different opinions held by various groups of people worldwide on the age difference gap for partners as well as studies conducted to provide an understanding of appropriate ages for partners. Most relationships in the past involved people of same age set or group, although nowadays partners with wide age gaps are involved in relationships. This trend has caused strong controversy as some people are against while others support age gap relationships. Amid these controversies, this paper will argue in support of the argument that age gap in relationship does not jeopardize its success and such relationships have a chance.
Varied reproductive life spans
Age gap relationships would be possible by applying biological studies regarding reproduction of human beings since many people enter into relationships with aims of getting married and have children to survive their lives. Biologically, the age gap relationships are possible if the determinant factor is the age of the partners. Biological studies have provided strong and valid discussion on the reproductive life of both the males and females (Jones & Lopez, 2013). This is of concern where people would like to have children and so would like to choose a partner within the reproductive age. An average lady would have a reproductive life not beyond 45 years and their likelihood to conceive a child begins to diminish after reaching 35 years of age (Jones & Lopez, 2013). On the other hand, men have longer reproductive life and could father children at the age of 60 years. This difference makes it possible for a man at older age to choose a lady partner at a younger age so as to bear him a child. For example, a man beyond 45 years and in a great need of a child such as continuity of his family lineage would form a relationship with a lady of younger age who could bear him a child. This relationship will be successful if both partners are in agreement about other factors influencing their lives. They can proceed into marriage and have kids for continuity of their lives. This would not be possible where, a man aged above 45 years and with desire to have children form relationship with a lady of the same age. The lady could not bear him children and therefore the relationship would not proceed to marriage. The biological studies thus show age gap relationships have a chance of working out, especially if the bearing of children is the most important factor.
The Half-Your-Age-Plus-Seven Rule
Age gap relationships have a chance of surviving if the half-your-age-plus-seven rule is applied. Relationships are influenced by factors such as studies and theories relating to the age of the partners involved. One of these theories is the above mentioned rule that is recognized in many places all over the world and has been proven to apply in several relationships incidences. The rule provides that a person would date someone younger than him or her, though, not aged under half his or her age plus seven years (DiDonato, 2014). This means, for instance, a man aged 30 years should be in a relationship with a lady aged not below 22 years. That is, sum of half his age (15 years) and 7 more years which add up to 22 years. The same rule could be applied on ladies involved in relationships with men of younger age.
On a maximum age, the rule provides that a person could be in a relationship with a person with his or age subtracted seven years and multiplied by two. As such, a 25 year old person would date partner aged not more than 36 years and could apply to both genders. However, the maximum age provision of the rule is not highly applied by people (DiDonato , 2014). A study by Buunk et al (2001) hich investigated the validity of this rule using empirical studies as conducted by that investigated men and women on the ages of people found out that the minimum age (half-your-age-plus-seven) worked well for men than women while the maximum age determined by the rule favored women than men in determining the age of a partner for serious relationship and marriage. However, many ladies preferred partners older than them though below the maximum age determine by the rule.
Children Welfare
According to Sigleman and Rider (2011), age gap relationships have a chance of working out where the partners desire to have one of them taking care of children in case of death. Partners in a relationship would wish to bring up their children well when they get married and thus would be committed to ensure they are not left orphaned at a young age when the parents pass on. The partners would wish one of them to be left to bring up children when the other dies. The partner left behind would provide for the children and save them from problems experienced by total orphan children, such as lack of basic needs, insecurity, and lack emotional support. This is mostly encouraged in some cultures especially where traditional values are highly preserved. Following this understanding, a person would have a partner of younger age since old people are generally vulnerable to death than younger people. For example, Kail and Cavanaugh (2012) argues that men and women exposed to similar environments and living conditions would have different life spans whereby the men are expected to have shorter lives than the women. Some men could thus choose to partner with ladies of younger age who would have longer life spans such that in an event of death of the man, the lady would continue bringing their children up until they are able to support themselves and live on their own. If the partners in a relationship are of the same age, there are expectations that they could die almost during the same periods of time and therefore would leave children with problems. Based on this understanding, therefore, age gap relationships are possible and are concerned with long-term welfare of the immediate children.
Varied growth and development cycles
Another chance of age gap relationships being possible is created by the differences in growth for men and women. In their biological study, Sigelman and Rider (2011) argues that the general growth curve of a person’s life increases from birth to a maximum in the middle age and then begins diminishing towards the old age and death. This affirms the practicability of age gap relationships in real life situations. Following this, people grow positively in their structures and physique until the mid-ages after which their health and physique grow weak and deteriorate. The people in young age are energetic, vibrant and attractive than those in old age. However, studies have shown that ladies grow old and their physical appearance as well as health weakens at faster rates than men, even when they are exposed to similar environmental and living conditions. Therefore, a lady with the same age as a man would appear older, weaker in healthy and physically less attractive than the latter (Sigelman & Rider, 2011). This would weaken the relationship of the two, leading to failure in the long run. Even in marriage relationships, these ageing differences would weaken the union leading to break ups are cases of infidelity where the displeased partner would search for a more attractive and younger partner outside the marriage. To minimize these situations, people who get in relationships would ensure a gap in their ages and in most cases the lady partner is usually younger than the man such that at old age both appear to be in similar conditions of health and physical appearance. This will promise the relationship last long through courtship even into marriage and old age if other factors influencing the relationship do not cause break ups.
Different maturity levels
Age gap relationships would be possible from the understanding of varying maturity of women and men. Serious relationships would require high levels of maturity, not only in physique or structure but also in mentality and emotions. Relationships where both partners have similar and comparable maturity levels are likely to be successful compared to those where one partner shows high and incomparable maturity than the other. People involved in relationships share lot things about their life together and communication between them is dependent how they express themselves, perceptions on different issues and ability to make appealing decisions (Thies & Travers, 2001). This is associated with maturity and stability in emotions as well as mentality and brings a feeling of comfort along a sense of complementing each the other in a relationship. People serious with relationships would thus search for partners with almost similar maturity levels and this could be highly dependent on age. Biological studies have shown that ladies generally mature at a faster rate than their men counterparts (Thies & Travers, 2001). For example a lady exposed to similar lives and environments as men with similar ages would exhibit higher maturity levels. This implies that, if such partners are in a relationship, the lady w...