When I was a college student, I remember hearing a speaker make a joke about how some incompatible couples justify their relationships: “But we both LOVE cantaloupe. We’re meant for each other!” His point was that sometimes young, hormone-charged singles jump into relationships despite having very little in common.
Overall, I sense that when it comes to seeking a marriage partner, singles have become choosier over the past two decades. One study of 41,000 online daters in Australia revealed that singles at the age of peak fertility — ages 18-30 years — tend to care more about the education level of the person they’re dating. Specifically, women are choosier before age 40 and men become the choosier sex after age 40. Of course, singles can have many other preferences in addition to level of education, such as a partner who maintains a healthy lifestyle, enjoys similar hobbies, is a certain age, dresses a certain way, has a specific career, manages money in a…
