Online Dating Preference of Chinese American Older Adults

Background/Purpose: The partner preferences of older adults (60 years and older) is an important concern among social workers, given how relationship status (widowed, divorced, and never married) may negatively impact physical health, mental health, and mortality. A dramatic increase in the use of online dating websites among adults over age 50 is evident. Related research primarily focuses on testing a theory of sexual strategies on younger, White/Caucasian Americans. This study fills the gap by testing how acculturation level (education location) affects sexual strategies theory when applied to Chinese American older adults’ dating preferences.

Methods: Data were collected from a national online dating website, whose privacy policy indicates that online information is publicly available. 257 Chinese American heterosexual older adults (133 female and 124 male) were randomly selected. Their mean age was 65.39 years old. 3.5% of people failed to mention their education level. 50.9% of participants have graduate degree or above. Another 45.6% of them have high school degree, some college experience, an associate degree, or a bachelor degree. The average income is between $50,001 and $100,000. 

Path analysis was conducted with two independent variables: gender (female and male) and personal education location (U.S. educated only and others), as well as four dependent variables: age differences, shortest height acceptance, income requirements, and education level requirements. All of the assumptions are met. The variables of shortest height acceptance, age differences, and personal education location have missing values. SPSS Little’s MCAR test indicates that the type of missing values is missing completely at random (Chi-square= 2.672, P= .263). Multiple imputations have been used to deal with missing values.

Results: Although Chi-square is significant, it is not overly large, and the other indices suggest a good-fitting model  (RMSEA= .000; CFI= 1.000). The results indicate that there are significant gender differences among dating preferences: males prefer younger females (β=11.326, p= .000); females prefer taller males (β= -15.421, p= .000); females also prefer males who have higher education level (β= -0.321, p= .0058); females have requirements of partner’s income level (β= -0.768, p= .000). Participants’ education location does not affect dating preferences.

Implications: The findings of path analysis suggest acculturation level regarding of personal education location fails to affect dating preferences tested. Sexual strategists theory maybe used to understand Chinese American older adults’ dating preferences. Because of their harmony and collectivism culture, Chinese older adults usually take into consideration their family members’ attitudes towards their choice of a partner. In this case, a social worker, who knows Chinese cultural norms, current online dating patterns, and dating preferences, may be able to help family members understand the needs of their parent while also helping families negotiate and resolve conflicts. Also, understanding the dating preferences of Chinese American older adults in the U.S. can contribute to the growth of culturally sensitive social work practices.