Partner Selection Across the Life-Course: Age Variation in Partner Preferences in the Czech Republic

Abstract

The proportion of people seeking a partner later in life has increased in recent decades. However, studies exploring age variation in partner preferences are quite rare. We aim to fill this gap by examining the partner preferences for household care skills, financial resources, and education of unpartnered individuals aged 19–65 years ( n = 1145) who participated in speed-dating events in the Czech Republic. We hypothesized that the importance of these characteristics varies with age, and that this variance may differ for men and women. The results show that gender differences concerning these characteristics are mostly stable across age groups. The exception is the importance of household care skills, which increases for older men and decreases for older women. We found that older adults value financial resources more than younger adults, and that this increase is true for women and men. Finally, we did not find evidence that the importance of education differs with age.