Cougars and Cougletts

Sugar mommas. Cougars. Mature women. All of these expressions have been used to describe older women who date younger men. The media is particularly fond of the term "cougar" to describe this group of women. While I find the term somewhat offensive because it suggests that older women are on the prowl and treat younger men as their prey....I can't help using the term myself.

I would general classify single women 40 and older as cougars and single women 30 to 39 as cougars in training...or cougletts if you want to be cute about it. I also wouldn't consider an age difference of 3-4 years cougar like action. I would consider cougars women who are 40 or older dating men in their 20s (think Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher).

Regardless of how much media attention cougars have received, what are the real numbers behind this fade? A 2003 survey conducted by AARP found that 34 percent of women over 40 are dating younger men. Unfortunately, the survey doesn't specify the actual age difference.

Dating a younger man is one thing, but how serious do these relationships become? Does dating a mature women lead to cohabitation and/or marriage?

Data from the Current Population Survey (March supplement 1998) shows that among couples, women who are 2 or more years older than the man are more likely to cohabit with their partners (24 percent) than to marry (12 percent).

I pulled this table from the Census to illustrate current trends in marriage and age and we see in 2007, 13 percent of women 2 or more years older are married compared to 54 percent of men 2 or more years older then their spouse. However, these "older" married women are really not that much older than their husbands. Of that 13 percent I mentioned above, 7 percent are 2-3 years older than their husband. Whereas about 25 percent of married men are 4 to 9 years older than their spouses. So I guess you could say cougletts are more likely to get married while those red, hot cougars are enjoying their single life. Grrr...!

As perceptions about age change and women continue to gain in eduction and the workplace, might we see an increase in marriage between older women and younger men?

Married Couple Family Groups, by Presence of Own Children Under 18, and Age, Earnings, Education, and Race and Hispanic Origin of Both Spouses: 2007
Current Population Survey 2007
(Numbers in thousands.)
All Married Couples	All Married Couples		Without Own Children		With Own Children
			Under 18		Under 18
	N	%	N	%	N	%
ALL MARRIED COUPLES	60,676	100.0	33,874	100.0	26,802	100.0
.AGE DIFFERENCE
Husband 20+ years older than wife	484	0.8	278	0.8	206	0.8
Husband 15-19 years older than wife	940	1.5	549	1.6	391	1.5
Husband 10-14 years older than wife	3,144	5.2	1,788	5.3	1,357	5.1
Husband 6-9 years older than wife	7,464	12.3	4,194	12.4	3,270	12.2
Husband 4-5 years older than wife	8,101	13.4	4,667	13.8	3,434	12.8
Husband 2-3 years older than wife	12,371	20.4	6,742	19.9	5,629	21.0
Husband and wife within 1 year	19,467	32.1	10,516	31.0	8,950	33.4
Wife 2-3 years older than husband	4,266	7.0	2,429	7.2	1,837	6.9
Wife 4-5 years older than husband	2,054	3.4	1,194	3.5	860	3.2
Wife 6-9 years older than husband	1,555	2.6	935	2.8	620	2.3
Wife 10-14 years older than husband	534	0.9	341	1.0	193	0.7
Wife 15-19 years older than husband	158	0.3	121	0.4	37	0.1
Wife 20+ years older than husband	137	0.2	119	0.4	18	0.1

What makes a man want to marry an older women? Better in bed, more money, more confident? There are probably reasons that I will leave to you to speculate about.

This funny clip from the Today Show discusses a recent British documentary called Sugar Mummies. Put that one in the netflix! (Thanks to Gretchen for the clip)