Why Successful Women Love To Date Younger Men

A new study on maturity suggests that men don't mature until age 43, while women mature by age 32. This won't come as a surprise to most women, yet many successful single women choose to date younger men. Here's some insight into why:

1. She has fewer expectations. If a woman has focused much of her energy on building a successful career, she'll likely want a partner with a similar degree of success. However she defines that success, she'll have particular expectations of a man who is about the same age. She'll unintentionally hold him to the same high standards to which she holds herself. With a younger man, however, she'll just want to see the potential for success. It will take less to impress her and she'll be excited to join him on his journey.

2. Younger men tend to be more fun. Perhaps it is because they are less focused on their futures or perhaps it is because their careers haven't yet hit their critical points. Either way, younger guys are often more carefree and fun. Their spirits seem lighter. They haven't yet been jaded by life's hardships. This can be very attractive to the successful woman who never took the time to have fun. If she spent her years in grad school or climbing the corporate ladder, a younger man might bring into her life the fun she had been missing.

3. It eliminates the sense of competition. In a room full of successful men and women, even those who aren't competitive can feel like they are in a race to the top. When there is a significant age difference, however, that sense of competition is erased. It's no longer an apples-to-apples comparison. This leaves room for each person to take a purely supportive role with regards to the other's career and accomplishments. 

4. She hasn't yet fully matured. It is quite possible that because of the focus she has placed on her career, she hasn't taken the time to resolve any underlying emotional issues. With this, she may still be trying to figure out what she needs and wants in a partner, and how relationships are supposed to be. She may be less attracted to men who seem settled in this regard, and more attracted to men who are trying to figure it out as well.

5. She wants a younger father for her children. Women who focus on their careers may put off parenthood until the clock starts ticking. And at that point, they are likely very conscious of whom they would consider to be the father of their children. To put it simply, they are doing the math. And they are rounding up. "If he's 45 now, by the time we have kids he'll be almost 50. So by the time the kids are in college, he'll be about 70." If she's barely comfortable with her own age as it relates to parenthood, she's not going to be comfortable choosing a partner who is even older.

I always say "to each her own" when it comes to choosing partners. But it never hurts to have a little insight so that we can be supportive of the choices of our friends.

@RebeccaAMarquis is the author of How To Be A Good Boyfriend: 34 Ways To Keep Her From Getting Annoying, Jealous or Crazy, and offers dating humor and advice on her new Facebook page: facebook.com/RebeccaAMarquis.