Couple: the greater the age gap, the greater the disappointment

It is not uncommon to see married couples with a significant age gap in Thailand, but an Australian study suggests that it is not a good idea.

At the beginning of the marriage, men say they are more satisfied with their younger wife, but this satisfaction fades over time.

Researchers from the University of Colorado at Boulder examined 13 years of data from thousands of Australian households.

“We find that men married to younger wives are the most satisfied, and men married to older wives are the least satisfied,” explains Terra McKinnish, professor of economics at the university and co-author of the study.

“In fact, women are also particularly dissatisfied when they are married to older husbands and particularly satisfied if they are married to younger husbands.”

She adds that when examining marriages over time, people married to much older or younger spouses tend to have larger declines in marital satisfaction compared to those married to spouses of similar age.

Couples with a significant age gap generally see their satisfaction decline after six to ten years of marriage.

When financial problems are added to the age gap equation, things can go bad pretty quickly.

"When couples have a large age difference, they tend to experience a much larger decline in marital satisfaction when faced with an economic shock than couples who have a very small age difference," explains Mr. McKinnish.

This can be explained by the fact that couples of the same age are more in sync with decisions that affect them both, such as having children or their spending habits, she explains.

They would thus be better equipped to adapt to a negative financial shock such as a job loss.

Such a sudden upheaval could reveal underlying tensions and imbalances in couples with a larger age gap.

The report was published online in the Journal of Population Economics.

Its findings are based on data from the survey 'Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia' which began in 2001 with an initial sample of 7,682 households comprising 19,914 individuals.

Participants are re-interviewed each year on questions that measure life satisfaction.