{ "schema": "bumis-network/catalog@1", "site": { "host": "singleinyour50s.com", "name": "Single in Your 50s", "description": "Whether you are newly single or have been for years: clear, practical writing about what you want next.", "audience": "single" }, "publisher": { "name": "BUMIS", "url": "https://getbumis.com", "description": "BUMIS: Your Dating Mirror. Not a dating app, an app for your dating life." }, "articles": [ { "url": "https://singleinyour50s.com/single-in-your-50s/dating-online-in-your-50s-safely/", "title": "How do you date online safely in your 50s?", "summary": "Go slowly, meet in public, keep money out of it, and treat any request for money from someone you have not met as a scam.", "section": "single-in-your-50s", "author": "BUMIS Editorial", "reviewer": null, "published": "2026-10-01", "updated": "2026-10-02", "canonical": "https://singleinyour50s.com/single-in-your-50s/dating-online-in-your-50s-safely/", "sources": [ { "title": "How Americans 50 and older use online dating sites and apps", "url": "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/07/17/dating-at-50-and-up-older-americans-experiences-with-online-dating/", "publisher": "Pew Research Center", "date": "2023-07", "supports": "17% of Americans 50 and older have used a dating site or app; 47% of online daters 50 and older say they encountered someone they thought was trying to scam them (52% of those 50 to 64); survey of 6,034 U.S. adults, July 5 to 17, 2022." }, { "title": "What To Know About Romance Scams", "url": "https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/what-know-about-romance-scams", "publisher": "Federal Trade Commission", "supports": "Scammers say they cannot meet in person and ask for money in hard-to-reverse ways (wire transfer, gift cards, cryptocurrency); nobody legitimate will ask you to send money that way, and anyone who does is a scammer; report at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and contact your bank or payment company." }, { "title": "Romance scammers' favorite lies exposed", "url": "https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/data-visualizations/data-spotlight/2023/02/romance-scammers-favorite-lies-exposed", "publisher": "Federal Trade Commission (Data Spotlight)", "date": "2023-02", "supports": "In 2022, nearly 70,000 people reported a romance scam to the FTC, with $1.3 billion in reported losses and a median loss of $4,400; 40% of those who lost money said contact began on social media, 19% on a website or app; most common lies included a sick or jailed friend or relative, investment advice, and being in the military." }, { "title": "Romance Scams", "url": "https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/scams-and-safety/common-frauds-and-scams/romance-scams", "publisher": "Federal Bureau of Investigation", "supports": "Never send money to anyone you have only communicated with online or by phone; be suspicious if you have not met after a few months; beware of attempts to isolate you from friends and family or requests for inappropriate photos or financial information; report to ic3.gov." }, { "title": "2024 IC3 Annual Report", "url": "https://www.ic3.gov/AnnualReport/Reports/2024_IC3Report.pdf", "publisher": "FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center", "date": "2025-04", "supports": "In 2024, 7,626 people over 60 reported about $389 million in losses to confidence/romance scams to IC3." }, { "title": "How to Protect Yourself Against Online Romance Scams", "url": "https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/romance/", "publisher": "AARP Fraud Watch Network", "supports": "Warning signs include fast-moving relationships, requests to move off the platform, and repeated excuses not to meet; do a reverse image search; free AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline 877-908-3360 (Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern)." } ] }, { "url": "https://singleinyour50s.com/dating-at-this-age/disagreement-by-text-with-someone-new/", "title": "How do I handle a disagreement by text with someone new?", "summary": "Say your point once, kindly and briefly, then suggest a phone call, and pay attention to how the two of you repair afterward. In your 50s you may be tempted to let it slide to keep the peace, but with someone new, a first disagreement handled with respect is one of the best signs you'll get.", "section": "dating-at-this-age", "author": "BUMIS Editorial", "reviewer": null, "published": "2026-10-02", "updated": "2026-10-02", "canonical": "https://singleinyour50s.com/dating-at-this-age/disagreement-by-text-with-someone-new/", "sources": [ { "title": "Age differences in exposure and reactions to interpersonal tensions: A daily diary study", "url": "https://healthyaging.psu.edu/research/publications/age-differences-exposure-and-reactions-interpersonal-tensions-daily-diary", "publisher": "Birditt, Fingerman and Almeida, listed by Penn State Center for Healthy Aging", "date": "2005", "supports": "In a daily diary study, older adults reported fewer interpersonal tensions than younger adults, found them less stressful, and when tensions arose were more likely to use avoidant strategies such as doing nothing and less likely to argue." }, { "title": "Buffering attachment-related avoidance: Softening emotional and behavioral defenses during conflict discussions", "url": "https://experts.umn.edu/en/publications/buffering-attachment-related-avoidance-softening-emotional-and-be/", "publisher": "Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (Overall, Simpson and Struthers), University of Minnesota Experts", "date": "2013", "supports": "180 heterosexual couples were video-recorded in two discussions where one partner wanted the other to change. More avoidant partners showed more anger and withdrawal when they were the target of the request, which went with less successful discussions; their anger and withdrawal eased at points when the other partner used more softening communication." }, { "title": "Hearing an Opinion Spoken Aloud Humanizes the Person Behind It", "url": "https://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/releases/hearing-an-opinion-spoken-aloud-humanizes-the-person-behind-it.html", "publisher": "Association for Psychological Science, reporting Schroeder, Kardas and Epley in Psychological Science", "date": "2017", "supports": "In experiments where people encountered opinions they disagreed with, observers judged the communicator as more thoughtful, intelligent, rational and humanlike when they heard the person's voice (audio or video) than when they read the same words; cues of the voice such as tone, pace, pitch and volume help explain the effect." }, { "title": "Hang In There", "url": "https://newsarchive.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/1995/0426/hang.html", "publisher": "The Berkeleyan (University of California, Berkeley), reporting Levenson, Carstensen and Gottman", "date": "1995-04", "supports": "Research on 156 long-married Oakland and Berkeley couples compared couples in their 40s (married at least 15 years) with couples in their 60s (married at least 35 years): there was no difference in overall emotion, but the older couples expressed fewer negative and more affectionate emotions, and even during conflict and in unhappier marriages the older spouses used affection to short-circuit escalation." }, { "title": "Intimate Partner Violence (NISVS data brief)", "url": "https://cdc.gov/nisvs/media/pdfs/intimatepartnerviolence-brief.pdf", "publisher": "Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey", "supports": "CDC defines psychological aggression by a partner as including expressive aggression (such as insulting or humiliating a partner) and coercive control and entrapment, behaviors intended to monitor, control or threaten an intimate partner." } ] }, { "url": "https://singleinyour50s.com/dating-at-this-age/reliable-texting-at-this-age/", "title": "What does reliable texting look like at this age?", "summary": "It looks like consistency more than speed: a rhythm you can count on, plans that turn into dates, a heads-up when life gets busy, and a willingness to pick up the phone. In your 50s, reliable also tends to mean unhurried and respectful of the full lives you both already have.", "section": "dating-at-this-age", "author": "BUMIS Editorial", "reviewer": null, "published": "2026-10-02", "updated": "2026-10-02", "canonical": "https://singleinyour50s.com/dating-at-this-age/reliable-texting-at-this-age/", "sources": [ { "title": "The Impact of Attachment Style on Communication Frequency and Language Use in Romantic Partners' Text Messages", "url": "https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0261927X251344949", "publisher": "Journal of Language and Social Psychology (Vanderbilt, Brinberg and Lu)", "date": "2025", "supports": "Using the actual text message histories of 40 early-stage college daters, higher attachment avoidance was associated with less frequent texting, attachment anxiety was not associated with texting frequency, and more anxious participants used more future-focused language in their texts." }, { "title": "Using technology to connect in romantic relationships: Effects on attachment, relationship satisfaction, and stability in emerging adults", "url": "https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/facpub/2343", "publisher": "Journal of Couple and Relationship Therapy (Schade, Sandberg, Bean, Busby and Coyne), BYU ScholarsArchive", "date": "2013", "supports": "In 276 young adults ages 18 to 25 in committed relationships, texting to express affection was associated with higher reported partner attachment for both men and women." }, { "title": "Taking Time Seriously: A Theory of Socioemotional Selectivity", "url": "https://profiles.wustl.edu/en/publications/taking-time-seriously-a-theory-of-socioemotional-selectivity/", "publisher": "American Psychologist (Carstensen, Isaacowitz and Charles), Washington University in St. Louis profiles", "date": "1999", "supports": "Socioemotional selectivity theory holds that how much time people perceive they have shapes their social goals: when time is perceived as open-ended, knowledge-related goals take priority, and when time is perceived as limited, emotional goals take priority." }, { "title": "First study to investigate how attachment style changes through multiple decades of life", "url": "https://www.bps.org.uk/research-digest/first-study-investigate-how-attachment-style-changes-through-multiple-decades-life", "publisher": "British Psychological Society Research Digest, reporting Chopik, Edelstein and Grimm in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology", "date": "2019", "supports": "Data from five long-running projects following 628 U.S. people born between 1920 and 1967, covering ages 13 to 72, found attachment anxiety and avoidance declined on average across adulthood; attachment is relatively stable but not fixed and may be shaped by relationship experiences and life stage." }, { "title": "2023 Tech Trends and the 50-Plus", "url": "https://www.aarp.org/research/topics/technology/info-2023/2023-technology-trends-older-adults", "publisher": "AARP Research", "date": "2023", "supports": "Most Americans age 50 and older text to keep in touch with friends and family." }, { "title": "Effects of texting on satisfaction in romantic relationships: The role of attachment", "url": "https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0747563214000193", "publisher": "Computers in Human Behavior (Shanhong Luo)", "date": "2014", "supports": "Text volume was not related to attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance or relationship satisfaction; texting share (the proportion of partner contact done by text) was positively linked with both anxiety and avoidance and negatively linked with satisfaction." } ] }, { "url": "https://singleinyour50s.com/dating-at-this-age/slow-texting-feels-like-rejection/", "title": "Why does slow texting from someone new feel like rejection?", "summary": "Because early on a gap is the only information you have, and a heart that has been left before fills it with the familiar story. In your 50s there are more ordinary reasons for a slow reply than ever (texting habits vary a lot by generation and household), so treat slowness as a pace to learn, and save real alarm for a pattern or a request for money.", "section": "dating-at-this-age", "author": "BUMIS Editorial", "reviewer": null, "published": "2026-10-02", "updated": "2026-10-02", "canonical": "https://singleinyour50s.com/dating-at-this-age/slow-texting-feels-like-rejection/", "sources": [ { "title": "Adult Romantic Attachment, Electronic Messaging, and Relationship Quality", "url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35085449", "publisher": "Peer-reviewed study indexed in PubMed (U.S. National Library of Medicine)", "date": "2022-03", "supports": "In 302 romantically partnered undergraduates, more anxious people wanted more frequent messages than they received and replied faster than their partners did; more avoidant people wanted fewer messages than they received and replied more slowly; satisfaction with message frequency was more strongly tied to relationship quality for more anxious people." }, { "title": "Understanding the Silent Treatment", "url": "https://magazine.tcu.edu/2019/fall/understanding-the-silent-treatment/", "publisher": "TCU Magazine (Texas Christian University), on Schrodt, Witt and Shimkowski in Communication Monographs", "date": "2019", "supports": "A meta-analysis of 74 studies with more than 14,000 participants found the demand-withdraw pattern (one partner presses with requests, the other avoids or goes silent) is among the most damaging forms of relationship conflict; according to Schrodt, both partners play a part, and each tends to blame the other, the one pressing feeling shut out and the one withdrawing feeling nagged." }, { "title": "From the cradle to the grave: Age differences in attachment from early adulthood to old age", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2012.00793.x", "publisher": "Journal of Personality (Chopik, Edelstein and Fraley)", "date": "2013", "supports": "In 86,555 internet respondents ages 18 to 70, attachment anxiety was highest among younger adults and lowest among middle-aged and older adults; partnered people reported lower anxiety and avoidance than single people, especially in younger and older adulthood. Cross-sectional data." }, { "title": "Tech Use and Adoption Keeps Surging Among Older Adults (2026 Tech Trends)", "url": "https://www.aarp.org/pri/topics/technology/internet-media-devices/2026-technology-trends-older-adults/", "publisher": "AARP Research", "date": "2025-12", "supports": "Texting is now the leading communication method among adults 50 and older, and about nine in 10 adults 50-plus own a smartphone (online survey of 3,838 U.S. adults, September to October 2025)." }, { "title": "What we know about internet use, smartphone ownership and digital divides in the U.S.", "url": "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/01/08/internet-use-smartphone-ownership-digital-divides-in-u-s/", "publisher": "Pew Research Center", "date": "2026-01", "supports": "78% of U.S. adults 65 and older own a smartphone, the lowest of any age group; 41% of U.S. adults say they are online almost constantly (survey February to June 2025)." }, { "title": "No love for romance scammers in 2024", "url": "https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2024/01/no-love-romance-scammers-2024", "publisher": "Federal Trade Commission (Consumer Alert)", "date": "2024-01", "supports": "Never send money, crypto, gift cards or bank or wire transfers to an online love interest you haven't met in person; the FTC received 64,003 reports of romance scams in 2023 with reported losses of about $1.14 billion." } ] }, { "url": "https://singleinyour50s.com/dating-at-this-age/stop-overanalyzing-read-receipts/", "title": "How do I stop overanalyzing read receipts and reply times?", "summary": "Learn what the ticks and the 'last seen' line can and can't tell you, hide the ones you can, and give your attention a better job, like counting plans kept instead of minutes waited. If you're in your 50s and newer to blue ticks and online status, the checking can feel like a skill to master, but it's really a habit to break, and habits take weeks, not willpower.", "section": "dating-at-this-age", "author": "BUMIS Editorial", "reviewer": null, "published": "2026-10-02", "updated": "2026-10-02", "canonical": "https://singleinyour50s.com/dating-at-this-age/stop-overanalyzing-read-receipts/", "sources": [ { "title": "Americans' Social Media Use 2025", "url": "https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2025/11/20/americans-social-media-use-2025", "publisher": "Pew Research Center", "date": "2025-11", "supports": "In a survey of 5,022 U.S. adults (February to June 2025), 32% of adults said they use WhatsApp, up from 23% in 2021; 28% of adults ages 50 to 64 use it, compared with 40% of those 30 to 49." }, { "title": "Reply Speed as Nonverbal Cue in Text Messaging With a Read Receipt Display Function", "url": "https://www.igi-global.com/article/reply-speed-as-nonverbal-cue-in-text-messaging-with-a-read-receipt-display-function/239530/", "publisher": "IGI Global journal article (indexed on RePEc, vol. 16, 2020)", "date": "2020", "supports": "A questionnaire of 213 female college students in Japan measured how long it took for negative emotions (sadness, anxiety, anger and guilt) to arise while waiting for a reply: they arose significantly sooner when the message showed as read than when it was unread, and earlier still among students more dependent on messaging." }, { "title": "Exploring the impact of 'read receipts' in Mobile Instant Messaging", "url": "https://tidsskrift.dk/mef-journal/article/view/28781", "publisher": "MedieKultur (Lynden and Rasmussen)", "date": "2017", "supports": "Mixed-methods research on read receipts in mobile messaging: read receipts were linked to increased app checking, avoidance strategies and anxiety at a lack of response, along with strong negative attitudes to the feature; effects depended on personality, situation, content, social context and gender." }, { "title": "Fear of Missing Out, Emotional Intelligence and Attachment in Older Adults in Argentina", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9958755", "publisher": "Journal of Intelligence, via PubMed Central", "date": "2023-01", "supports": "In a study of 690 older adults ages 60 to 90 in Argentina, fear of missing out was at levels similar to other general samples; emotional attention, insecure attachment, depression and difficulties in interpersonal relationships were predictors." }, { "title": "The mere presence of your smartphone reduces brain power, study shows", "url": "https://news.utexas.edu/2017/06/26/the-mere-presence-of-your-smartphone-reduces-brain-power", "publisher": "University of Texas at Austin News, reporting Adrian Ward and colleagues", "date": "2017-06", "supports": "In experiments with nearly 800 smartphone users, people whose phones were in another room significantly outperformed those whose phones were on the desk on tasks measuring cognitive capacity, and slightly outperformed those with phones in a pocket or bag, even when phones were off; Ward describes the effort of not thinking about the phone as a 'brain drain.'" }, { "title": "How long does it take to form a habit?", "url": "https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2009/aug/how-long-does-it-take-form-habit", "publisher": "University College London News, reporting Lally and colleagues in the European Journal of Social Psychology", "date": "2009-08", "supports": "96 volunteers chose a new daily eating, drinking or activity behavior and logged it for 12 weeks; the median time to reach near-peak automaticity was 66 days, ranging from 18 to 254 days across people and behaviors." } ] }, { "url": "https://singleinyour50s.com/dating-at-this-age/trust-someone-new-at-this-age/", "title": "How do I trust someone new at this age?", "summary": "Trust the person slowly and the process plainly: let warmth grow from what they do over time, and keep a few simple checks that run no matter how you feel. In your 50s that split matters more, because scams target this age and a past marriage has taught you both too much and too little.", "section": "dating-at-this-age", "author": "BUMIS Editorial", "reviewer": null, "published": "2026-10-01", "updated": "2026-10-02", "canonical": "https://singleinyour50s.com/dating-at-this-age/trust-someone-new-at-this-age/", "sources": [ { "title": "Neural and behavioral bases of age differences in perceptions of trust", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3529090", "publisher": "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Castle, Taylor and colleagues, UCLA, via PubMed Central)", "date": "2012", "supports": "In a behavioral study (119 older adults, roughly ages 55 to 84, and 24 younger adults), older and younger adults rated faces with trustworthy cues similarly, but older adults rated faces with cues of untrustworthiness as more trustworthy and approachable. In a brain-imaging study, older adults showed muted anterior insula activation (linked to gut-level risk signals) to untrustworthy faces." }, { "title": "Do You Love Me? Psychological Characteristics of Romance Scam Victims", "url": "https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/cyber.2016.0729", "publisher": "Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking (Whitty)", "date": "2018", "supports": "In an online survey of 11,780 UK adults, including 200 people scammed through a romance scam, romance scam victims tended to be middle-aged, well-educated women, and scored higher on impulsivity (urgency and sensation seeking) and on trust in others." }, { "title": "Protecting Older Consumers, 2024-2025: A Report of the Federal Trade Commission", "url": "https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/P144400-OlderAdultsReportDec2025.pdf", "publisher": "Federal Trade Commission", "date": "2025-12", "supports": "Fraud losses reported by adults 60 and over rose about fourfold, from about $600 million in 2020 to $2.4 billion in 2024. The increase was driven largely by reports of losses over $100,000, often to investment scams, romance scams or impersonators." }, { "title": "Romance Scams (consumer tearsheet)", "url": "https://www.bulkorder.ftc.gov/sites/bulkorder.ftc.gov/files/publications/936a-pio-romancescams-tearsheet-2022-508.pdf", "publisher": "Federal Trade Commission", "date": "2022", "supports": "FTC advice: never send money or gifts to a sweetheart you haven't met in person." }, { "title": "The Theory Behind the Age-Related Positivity Effect", "url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3459016/", "publisher": "Frontiers in Psychology (Reed and Carstensen, Stanford University, via PubMed Central)", "date": "2012", "supports": "The positivity effect is an age-related trend in which older people, relative to younger people, attend to and remember more positive than negative information, grounded in a shift toward emotionally meaningful goals as people age." } ] }, { "url": "https://singleinyour50s.com/dating-at-this-age/first-date-questions-in-your-50s/", "title": "What questions should you ask on a first date in your 50s?", "summary": "Ask open questions about their life now and what they want next, then ask a follow-up to whatever they actually say. Research finds the follow-up is what makes people like talking to you.", "section": "dating-at-this-age", "author": "BUMIS Editorial", "reviewer": null, "published": "2026-10-01", "updated": "2026-10-01", "canonical": "https://singleinyour50s.com/dating-at-this-age/first-date-questions-in-your-50s/", "sources": [ { "title": "It doesn't hurt to ask: Question-asking increases liking", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000097", "publisher": "Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (American Psychological Association)", "date": "2017-09", "supports": "Across studies of live get-to-know-you chats (more than 600 online chat participants) and 110 speed daters, people who asked more questions, especially follow-up questions, were better liked; speed daters who asked more follow-up questions were more likely to get a second date; askers were seen as more responsive (listening, understanding, validation and care)." }, { "title": "The experimental generation of interpersonal closeness: A procedure and some preliminary findings", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167297234003", "publisher": "Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin", "date": "1997", "supports": "Over about 45 minutes, pairs of strangers took turns on self-disclosure tasks that gradually escalated in intensity (the source of the '36 questions'); they reported more closeness afterward than pairs given comparable small-talk tasks. The aim was temporary closeness in a lab, not romance." }, { "title": "Taking turns: Reciprocal self-disclosure promotes liking in initial interactions", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2013.03.017", "publisher": "Journal of Experimental Social Psychology", "date": "2013", "supports": "Unacquainted undergraduate pairs who took turns asking and disclosing reported more liking, closeness, perceived similarity and enjoyment than pairs in which one person did all the disclosing first and then they switched." }, { "title": "Swapping small talk with strangers for deeper dialogue offers surprising rewards", "url": "https://news.utexas.edu/2021/11/18/swapping-small-talk-with-strangers-for-deeper-dialogue-offers-surprising-rewards/", "publisher": "UT News, University of Texas at Austin (reporting Kardas, Kumar and Epley, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology)", "date": "2021-11", "supports": "Across experiments, strangers who had deeper conversations felt happier and more connected than after shallow ones, and the conversations were less awkward than participants expected, because people underestimated how much others would care about what they shared." }, { "title": "Dating at 50 and up: Older Americans' experiences with online dating", "url": "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/07/17/dating-at-50-and-up-older-americans-experiences-with-online-dating/", "publisher": "Pew Research Center", "date": "2023-07", "supports": "About half of adults 50 and older who have dated online in the past year cite meeting a long-term partner or spouse as a major reason, and 36% cite wanting to date casually; survey of U.S. adults conducted July 5 to 17, 2022." }, { "title": "A profile of single Americans", "url": "https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/08/20/a-profile-of-single-americans/", "publisher": "Pew Research Center", "date": "2020-08", "supports": "Half of single adults ages 50 to 64 and three-quarters of those 65 and older say they are not looking for a relationship or dates; survey of 4,860 U.S. adults, October 2019." } ] }, { "url": "https://singleinyour50s.com/dating-at-this-age/is-their-profile-telling-the-truth/", "title": "How do I know if they're lying?", "summary": "Mostly by checking what can be checked, not by reading their face or their texts. In your 50s, small profile fibs are common and usually harmless, while the stories worth verifying are the ones that keep you from meeting or end with money, and you can check those without treating every match as a suspect.", "section": "dating-at-this-age", "author": "BUMIS Editorial", "reviewer": null, "published": "2026-10-01", "updated": "2026-10-01", "canonical": "https://singleinyour50s.com/dating-at-this-age/is-their-profile-telling-the-truth/", "sources": [ { "title": "The truth about lying in online dating profiles", "url": "https://sml.stanford.edu/publications/2007/truth-about-lying-online-dating-profiles", "publisher": "Stanford Social Media Lab (Hancock, Toma and Ellison, CHI 2007)", "date": "2007", "supports": "Researchers measured 80 online daters' height, weight and age and compared them with their profiles. Deception was frequent but usually small in magnitude: in most cases height was rounded up by about half an inch and weight rounded down by five to ten pounds." }, { "title": "Strategic misrepresentation in online dating: The effects of gender, self-monitoring, and personality traits", "url": "https://shareok.org/handle/11244/25040", "publisher": "Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, via University of Oklahoma (SHAREOK)", "date": "2010", "supports": "A survey of 5,020 online dating users examined seven categories of misrepresentation (personal assets, relationship goals, personal interests, personal attributes, past relationships, weight and age); men were more likely to misrepresent personal assets, relationship goals and personal attributes." }, { "title": "Older people not good liars: Otago study", "url": "https://www.odt.co.nz/news/campus/university-of-otago/older-people-not-good-liars-otago-study", "publisher": "Otago Daily Times, reporting Ruffman, Murray and Halberstadt (2012), Psychology and Aging", "date": "2012", "supports": "University of Otago researchers compared young and older adults as liars and as lie detectors; older adults were worse than young adults at telling when a speaker was lying, and all listeners found older adults' lies easier to spot." }, { "title": "FTC data show romance scams hit record high; $547 million reported lost in 2021", "url": "https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2022/02/ftc-data-show-romance-scams-hit-record-high-547-million-reported", "publisher": "Federal Trade Commission", "date": "2022-02", "supports": "People reported losing a record $547 million to romance scams in 2021, more than six times the 2017 figure; about a quarter of 2021 reports cited gift cards as the payment method, and the median individual reported loss was $2,400." }, { "title": "Elder Fraud, in Focus", "url": "https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/elder-fraud-in-focus", "publisher": "Federal Bureau of Investigation", "date": "2024", "supports": "According to the FBI's 2023 Elder Fraud Report, people aged 60 and older reported more than $3.4 billion in fraud losses in 2023, about an 11% increase from the year before, from more than 101,000 victims." } ] }, { "url": "https://singleinyour50s.com/what-you-want-next/is-this-person-right-for-you-this-time/", "title": "How do you know if someone is right for you this time?", "summary": "At this stage, right usually looks less like fireworks and more like fit: you can be yourself, your independence and family are respected, and the two of you can talk plainly about togetherness, money and where you each live.", "section": "what-you-want-next", "author": "BUMIS Editorial", "reviewer": null, "published": "2026-10-01", "updated": "2026-10-01", "canonical": "https://singleinyour50s.com/what-you-want-next/is-this-person-right-for-you-this-time/", "sources": [ { "title": "The Graying of Divorce: A Half Century of Change", "url": "https://academic.oup.com/psychsocgerontology/article/77/9/1710/6564346", "publisher": "The Journals of Gerontology, Series B (Brown and Lin, Oxford University Press)", "date": "2022", "supports": "The divorce rate among U.S. adults 50 and older rose from 4.9 divorcing persons per 1,000 married persons in 1990 to 10.1 per 1,000 in 2010, and more than one in three people divorcing is now 50 or older." }, { "title": "Later Life Marital Dissolution and Repartnership Status: A National Portrait", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6093496/", "publisher": "The Journals of Gerontology, Series B (Brown, Lin, Hammersmith and Wright, via PubMed Central)", "date": "2018", "supports": "Using the Health and Retirement Study (4,886 people whose marriages ended through divorce or widowhood at 50 or older), divorced people were more often repartnered through remarriage or cohabitation than widowed people, and divorced women were twice as likely to be repartnered as widowed women." }, { "title": "Relationship quality in midlife: A comparison of dating, living apart together, cohabitation, and marriage", "url": "https://profiles.bgsu.edu/en/publications/relationship-quality-in-midlife-a-comparison-of-dating-living-apa/", "publisher": "Journal of Marriage and Family (Brown and colleagues, Bowling Green State University)", "date": "2022", "supports": "In a nationally representative sample of 2,166 partnered U.S. adults ages 50 to 65 (2013 Families and Relationships Survey), people living apart together tended to report poorer relationship quality than married people, which the authors link to unclear norms and expectations. Dating, living apart together and cohabiting relationships were remarkably alike." }, { "title": "Older adults embracing 'living apart together'", "url": "https://munewsarchives.missouri.edu/news-releases/2017/0209-older-adults-embracing-living-apart-together/index.html", "publisher": "University of Missouri, reporting Benson and Coleman in the Journal of Marriage and Family", "date": "2017-02", "supports": "Benson and Coleman interviewed adults at least 60 years old in committed relationships who lived apart. Couples were motivated by desires to stay independent, keep their own homes, maintain existing family boundaries and remain financially independent." }, { "title": "Study reveals why many older adult couples live apart", "url": "https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2024/dec/study-reveals-why-many-older-adult-couples-live-apart", "publisher": "University College London, reporting Coulter and Hu in The Journals of Gerontology, Series B", "date": "2024-12", "supports": "Around four percent of over-60s in the UK are living apart together, comparable to the United States, Netherlands and Canada. When over-60s form a new relationship, living apart together is by far the most common arrangement, and it was linked to better mental health than being single." }, { "title": "Staying Apart for the Kids? Older American Daters and the Preservation of Family Wealth", "url": "https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1468-4446.70036", "publisher": "The British Journal of Sociology (Cotton and colleagues, Wiley)", "date": "2025", "supports": "Interviews and focus groups with 68 adults ages 55 to 92 in Phoenix, Arizona found that many wanted to protect wealth for their children and avoid family money tensions, and chose strategies like living apart together or not legally marrying to limit the financial fallout of repartnering." } ] }, { "url": "https://singleinyour50s.com/dating-at-this-age/overthinking-texts-in-your-50s/", "title": "Why do I overthink texts?", "summary": "Because texting hides tone and timing, and dating by text is still fairly new for most people in their 50s, so styles clash and the gaps get filled with worry. The useful shift at this age: a slow, plain texter is rarely the problem, while a stranger who moves very fast deserves a closer look.", "section": "dating-at-this-age", "author": "BUMIS Editorial", "reviewer": null, "published": "2026-10-01", "updated": "2026-10-01", "canonical": "https://singleinyour50s.com/dating-at-this-age/overthinking-texts-in-your-50s/", "sources": [ { "title": "Americans and Text Messaging", "url": "https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2011/09/19/americans-and-text-messaging/", "publisher": "Pew Research Center", "date": "2011-09", "supports": "In a national survey of 2,277 adults (April to May 2011), 95% of cell owners ages 18 to 29 used text messaging, compared with 72% of those ages 50 to 64. Among texters, 31% preferred texts to voice calls and 53% preferred a call." }, { "title": "Older adults want to express themselves with emojis, they just don't understand how to", "url": "https://www.uottawa.ca/research-innovation/news-all/older-adults-want-express-themselves-emojis-they-just-dont-understand-how", "publisher": "University of Ottawa (Boutet and colleagues, Computers in Human Behavior Reports)", "date": "2024-03", "supports": "A study of 240 adults ages 18 to 80 found older users were less likely to use emojis, used fewer different emojis and felt less comfortable using and interpreting them. Researchers concluded older adults understand emoji meanings but lack the confidence to use them." }, { "title": "Rumination and Age: Some Things Get Better", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3303571", "publisher": "Journal of Aging Research (Sütterlin and colleagues), PubMed Central", "date": "2012", "supports": "Survey of 300 members of the public ages 15 to 87. Participants 63 and older reported less ruminative thinking than other age groups." }, { "title": "But I didn't really mean it that way", "url": "https://www.npr.org/2006/05/16/5408400/but-i-didnt-really-mean-it-that-way", "publisher": "NPR, reporting on Kruger, Epley and colleagues (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2005)", "date": "2006-05", "supports": "Reports research showing that people overestimate how well their tone, such as sarcasm or seriousness, comes across in written electronic messages." }, { "title": "The scammers persuasive techniques model: Development of a stage model to explain the online dating romance scam", "url": "https://academic.oup.com/bjc/article/53/4/665/396759", "publisher": "British Journal of Criminology (Whitty)", "date": "2013", "supports": "Based on interviews with 20 people, including financial and non-financial victims, describes a staged model in which romance scammers groom victims and build an intense relationship before any request for money." }, { "title": "FBI Springfield warns romance scams lead to heartbreak and financial loss for victims", "url": "https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/springfield/news/press-releases/fbi-springfield-warns-romance-scams-lead-to-heartbreak-and-financial-loss-for-victims", "publisher": "Federal Bureau of Investigation", "date": "2022", "supports": "Lists romance scam red flags, including professing love quickly, pressing you to leave the dating site to talk only by email or messaging, claiming to live and work far away, plans to visit that are always cancelled by an emergency, and requests for money or financial information." } ] }, { "url": "https://singleinyour50s.com/dating-at-this-age/red-flag-or-too-careful/", "title": "Is it a red flag, or am I being too careful?", "summary": "Usually you can tell by separating what actually happened from what it reminds you of. Respond to the evidence in proportion, and treat one thing as a stop sign every time: a request for money from someone you haven't met in person.", "section": "dating-at-this-age", "author": "BUMIS Editorial", "reviewer": null, "published": "2026-10-01", "updated": "2026-10-01", "canonical": "https://singleinyour50s.com/dating-at-this-age/red-flag-or-too-careful/", "sources": [ { "title": "Once a Cheater, Always a Cheater? Serial Infidelity Across Subsequent Relationships", "url": "https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-017-1018-1", "publisher": "Archives of Sexual Behavior (Knopp, Scott, Ritchie, Rhoades, Markman and Stanley)", "date": "2017", "supports": "Following 484 adults through two romantic relationships, people who suspected a first partner of infidelity were four times more likely to suspect a partner in their next relationship, and people who knew a first partner had been unfaithful were twice as likely to report the same from their next partner." }, { "title": "Spontaneous Trait Transference: Communicators Take on the Qualities They Describe in Others", "url": "https://sciencedaily.com/releases/1998/03/980319071139.htm", "publisher": "Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (Skowronski, Carlston, Mae and Crawford), reported by ScienceDaily", "date": "1998-03", "supports": "Listeners tend to attribute to a speaker the same traits the speaker describes in other people, even when told there is no connection between the speaker and the description, which suggests an automatic association rather than a logical inference." }, { "title": "Love-bombing: A narcissistic approach to relationship formation", "url": "https://scholarworks.uark.edu/discoverymag/vol18/iss1/14/", "publisher": "Discovery, University of Arkansas (Strutzenberg, Wiersma-Mosley, Jozkowski and Becnel)", "date": "2017", "supports": "In a study of 484 college students ages 18 to 30, love-bombing (excessive communication at the start of a romantic relationship) was positively correlated with narcissistic tendencies and insecure attachment and negatively associated with self-esteem, and was linked to more text and media use in relationships." }, { "title": "The Virtues and Downsides of Online Dating (report)", "url": "https://legacy.pewresearch.org/internet/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2020/02/PI_2020.02.06_online-dating_REPORT.pdf", "publisher": "Pew Research Center", "date": "2020-02", "supports": "71% of U.S. online dating users said it is very common for people on dating sites and apps to lie about themselves to appear more desirable (survey conducted October 16 to 28, 2019)." }, { "title": "Looking for love? Watch out for scammers", "url": "https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2025/02/looking-love-watch-out-scammers", "publisher": "Federal Trade Commission (Consumer Alert)", "date": "2025-02", "supports": "Romance scammers often want to move the conversation off the platform, talk several times a day but can't meet in person, and eventually ask for money, for example for a plane ticket or emergency surgery; never send money or gifts to a love interest you haven't met in person; talk to someone you trust and do a reverse image search of the profile photo." } ] }, { "url": "https://singleinyour50s.com/dating-at-this-age/spot-a-romance-scam/", "title": "How do you spot a romance scam before it costs you?", "summary": "Watch for a pattern, not a single moment: fast love, no live video, a push to leave the dating site, then a crisis that needs money. Once money comes up from someone you haven't met in person, stop and verify before you send anything.", "section": "dating-at-this-age", "author": "BUMIS Editorial", "reviewer": null, "published": "2026-10-01", "updated": "2026-10-01", "canonical": "https://singleinyour50s.com/dating-at-this-age/spot-a-romance-scam/", "sources": [ { "title": "What To Know About Romance Scams", "url": "https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/what-know-about-romance-scams", "publisher": "Federal Trade Commission (Consumer Advice)", "supports": "Scammers soon want to email, call or message off the dating platform, say it is true love, say they cannot meet in person (overseas, oil rig, military, international organization), then ask for money for medical expenses, travel tickets, visas or fees; they ask for wires, gift cards with PIN codes, money transfer apps or cryptocurrency; never send money or gifts to a sweetheart you have not met in person; only scammers tell you to buy gift cards, wire money or buy cryptocurrency; report to ReportFraud.ftc.gov and to the site or app." }, { "title": "Romance scammers' favorite lies exposed (Data Spotlight)", "url": "https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/data-visualizations/data-spotlight/2023/02", "publisher": "Federal Trade Commission", "date": "2023-02", "supports": "In 2022, nearly 70,000 people reported a romance scam to the FTC, with $1.3 billion in reported losses and a median reported loss of $4,400; 40% of reports said contact started on social media; cryptocurrency and bank wires accounted for more than 60% of reported romance scam losses; 24% of people who reported losing money said they paid with gift cards; a sick, hurt or jailed friend or relative was the most common lie, in nearly a quarter of reports." }, { "title": "2025 Internet Crime Report", "url": "https://www.ic3.gov/AnnualReport/Reports/2025_IC3Report.pdf", "publisher": "FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)", "date": "2026-04", "supports": "In 2025, IC3 received 23,159 confidence/romance fraud complaints with about $929 million in reported losses." }, { "title": "Criminals Use Generative Artificial Intelligence to Facilitate Financial Fraud (Alert I-120324-PSA)", "url": "https://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2024/PSA241203", "publisher": "FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)", "date": "2024-12", "supports": "Criminals use AI-generated images for fake profiles in romance schemes and create AI-generated video for real-time video chats and private messages to 'prove' an online contact is a real person." }, { "title": "FBI Norfolk Warns of Romance Scams, Urges Public to Recognize Red Flags Ahead of Valentine's Day", "url": "https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/norfolk/news/fbi-norfolk-warns-of-romance-scams-urges-public-to-recognize-red-flags-ahead-of-valentines-day", "publisher": "Federal Bureau of Investigation", "supports": "Red flags include professing strong feelings or love very quickly, avoiding meeting in person or video chatting, repeatedly delayed meetings, claims of living or working overseas, requests for money for emergencies or investments, requests for gift cards, cryptocurrency, wire transfers or prepaid cards, and pressure to keep the relationship or requests secret; never send money to someone you have not met in person; talk to a trusted friend or family member first; report at ic3.gov." }, { "title": "Dating at 50 and up: Older Americans' experiences with online dating", "url": "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/07/17/dating-at-50-and-up-older-americans-experiences-with-online-dating/", "publisher": "Pew Research Center", "date": "2023-07", "supports": "47% of online daters 50 and older say they have encountered someone they thought was trying to scam them, including 52% of those ages 50 to 64 and 39% of those 65 and older; survey conducted July 2022." }, { "title": "New trends in reports of imposter scams", "url": "https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2026/05/new-trends-reports-imposter-scams", "publisher": "Federal Trade Commission (Consumer Alert)", "date": "2026-05", "supports": "Romance scammers build a relationship over time, then the conversation turns to money and they offer to help you invest yours; do not send money to someone you have never met in person." } ] }, { "url": "https://singleinyour50s.com/what-you-want-next/stay-after-they-cheated/", "title": "Should I stay after they cheated?", "summary": "Stay only if they fully own it, end it and do the repair work, and only if the relationship you'd be repairing is one you'd choose again. In your 50s, without a first marriage's shared mortgage or young kids holding things in place, you have more freedom to decide that honestly.", "section": "what-you-want-next", "author": "BUMIS Editorial", "reviewer": null, "published": "2026-10-01", "updated": "2026-10-01", "canonical": "https://singleinyour50s.com/what-you-want-next/stay-after-they-cheated/", "sources": [ { "title": "Commitment and its theorized determinants: A meta-analysis of the Investment Model", "url": "https://scholarship.haverford.edu/psychology_facpubs/108", "publisher": "Personal Relationships (Le and Agnew, Haverford College)", "date": "2003", "supports": "A meta-analysis of 52 studies with more than 11,000 participants from five countries found that satisfaction, quality of alternatives and size of investments each predicted commitment, and more committed relationships were more stable." }, { "title": "Infidelity and behavioral couple therapy: optimism in the face of betrayal", "url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15709841/", "publisher": "Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology (Atkins, Eldridge, Baucom and Christensen, via PubMed)", "date": "2005", "supports": "Among 134 couples in a randomized trial of marital therapy, 19 were infidelity couples. They began treatment more distressed than other couples, but couples whose affair was revealed before or during therapy showed greater improvement in satisfaction than noninfidelity couples." }, { "title": "Age differences in forgivingness: The role of future time perspective", "url": "https://scholars.cityu.edu.hk/en/publications/age-differences-in-forgiveness-the-role-of-future-time-perspectiv/", "publisher": "Journal of Research in Personality (Allemand)", "date": "2008", "supports": "Older adults are, on average, more willing to forgive others than middle-aged and younger adults, and the study examines future time perspective as an explanation for the age difference." }, { "title": "The Roles of Gray Divorce and Subsequent Repartnering for Parent-Adult Child Relationships", "url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8755893", "publisher": "The Journals of Gerontology, Series B (Lin and Brown, via PubMed Central)", "date": "2022", "supports": "Using Health and Retirement Study data from 1998 to 2014, fathers' repartnering after gray divorce had an enduring negative effect on frequent contact with their adult children, while mothers' repartnering had no appreciable effect on their relationships with adult children." }, { "title": "Living Apart Together Relationships in Later Life: Constructing an Account of Relational Maintenance", "url": "https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/familysci-facpubs/108", "publisher": "Intimate Relationships and Social Change (Benson, Kerr and Ermer, Montclair State University)", "date": "2017", "supports": "A grounded theory study of interviews with 22 older adults in living-apart-together relationships found partners maintained their relationships and satisfaction by safeguarding autonomy, through two strategies: upholding separateness and reshaping expectations." }, { "title": "Which STI Tests Should I Get?", "url": "https://www.cdc.gov/sti/about/which-std-tests-should-i-get.html", "publisher": "Centers for Disease Control and Prevention", "date": "2024", "supports": "CDC recommends an open and honest conversation with a healthcare provider about which STI tests are right for you. For women 25 and older, risk factors that call for gonorrhea and chlamydia testing include new partners, multiple partners or a partner who has an STI." } ] }, { "url": "https://singleinyour50s.com/dating-at-this-age/waiting-on-a-reply-in-your-50s/", "title": "How long should I wait before I worry about a reply?", "summary": "Use their usual pace as the yardstick: a gap many times longer than normal is worth one gentle check-in, while a slower day is not. In your 50s, caregiving, grown kids and a different relationship to the phone mean a day or two of quiet is often just life.", "section": "dating-at-this-age", "author": "BUMIS Editorial", "reviewer": null, "published": "2026-10-01", "updated": "2026-10-01", "canonical": "https://singleinyour50s.com/dating-at-this-age/waiting-on-a-reply-in-your-50s/", "sources": [ { "title": "Are you still waiting for an answer? The chronemics of asynchronous written CMC", "url": "https://www.openu.ac.il/personal_sites/download/yoram-kalman/Are-you-still-waiting-for-an-answer.pdf", "publisher": "Kalman, Ravid, Raban and Rafaeli (The Open University of Israel)", "date": "2006", "supports": "Across more than 150,000 responses in three online settings, at least 70% of replies came within the responder's average response time and at most 4% came after more than 10 times that average. The authors propose that a pause longer than about 10 times someone's average response time is perceived as silence." }, { "title": "Online pauses and silence: Chronemic expectancy violations in written computer-mediated communication", "url": "https://cris.haifa.ac.il/en/publications/online-pauses-and-silence-chronemic-expectancy-violations-in-writ/", "publisher": "Communication Research (Kalman and Rafaeli), University of Haifa", "date": "2011", "supports": "Managers rated job candidates whose reply to an email came after 1 day, 2 weeks or more than a month of silence. How the delay affected ratings of the candidate depended on how appealing the candidate already seemed, and the authors present a norms-based definition of online silence." }, { "title": "New report reveals crisis point for America's 63 million family caregivers", "url": "https://www.aarp.org/press/releases/2025-07-24-new-report-reveals-crisis-point-for-americas-63-million-family-caregivers.html", "publisher": "AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving, Caregiving in the U.S. 2025", "date": "2025-07", "supports": "63 million Americans, nearly 1 in 4 adults, provided ongoing care in the past year. Caregivers of adults 50 and older are on average 51 years old, have been caregiving for about five years and spend 26 hours a week on care. Based on a nationally representative survey of 6,858 caregivers." }, { "title": "More than half of Americans in their 40s are 'sandwiched' between an aging parent and their own children", "url": "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/04/08/more-than-half-of-americans-in-their-40s-are-sandwiched-between-an-aging-parent-and-their-own-children/", "publisher": "Pew Research Center", "date": "2022-04", "supports": "36% of Americans in their 50s have a living parent 65 or older and are either raising a child under 18 or helped an adult child financially in the past year, compared with 54% of those in their 40s (survey conducted October 2021)." } ] } ], "experts": [ { "name": "Bella DePaulo", "labels": [ "Credentialed source" ], "profiles": [ { "platform": "X", "handle": "@belladepaulo", "url": "https://x.com/belladepaulo" } ], "credential": "Social psychologist (PhD, Harvard); academic affiliate, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, UC Santa Barbara", "credentialSource": "https://news.ucsb.edu/2024/021352/embracing-single-life-love-intimacy-and-family-beyond-couple", "focus": "Research and writing on single life, including people who choose to stay single and live full lives on their own terms.", "lastChecked": "2026-10-01", "sites": [ "datingpatterns.com", "singleinyour20s.com", "singleinyour30.com", "singleinyour40s.com", "singleinyour50s.com", "singleinyour60s.com" ] }, { "name": "Esther Perel", "labels": [ "Trending voice" ], "profiles": [ { "platform": "Instagram", "handle": "@estherperelofficial", "url": "https://www.instagram.com/estherperelofficial/" }, { "platform": "TikTok", "handle": "@estherperel_official", "url": "https://www.tiktok.com/@estherperel_official" } ], "credential": null, "credentialSource": null, "focus": "Desire, infidelity and the tensions inside long term relationships, often through real couples sessions on her podcast.", "lastChecked": "2026-10-01", "sites": [ "datingpatterns.com", "datinginyour30s.com", "datinginyour40s.com", "singleinyour50s.com", "datingagainafterdivorce.com" ] }, { "name": "Kate Anthony", "labels": [ "Trending voice" ], "profiles": [ { "platform": "Instagram", "handle": "@thedivorcesurvivalguide", "url": "https://www.instagram.com/thedivorcesurvivalguide/" }, { "platform": "TikTok", "handle": "@thedivorcesurvivalguide", "url": "https://www.tiktok.com/@thedivorcesurvivalguide" } ], "credential": null, "credentialSource": null, "focus": "Coaching and podcast conversations for women deciding whether to stay in or leave a marriage, and rebuilding life after divorce.", "lastChecked": "2026-10-01", "sites": [ "datingpatterns.com", "datingagainafterdivorce.com", "datinginyour40s.com", "singleinyour40s.com", "singleinyour50s.com" ] }, { "name": "Marisa G. Franco", "labels": [ "Credentialed source" ], "profiles": [ { "platform": "Instagram", "handle": "@drmarisagfranco", "url": "https://www.instagram.com/drmarisagfranco/" } ], "credential": "Licensed counseling psychologist; PhD in Counseling Psychology, University of Maryland, where she teaches", "credentialSource": "https://universityhonors.umd.edu/marisa-franco", "focus": "Friendship, loneliness and belonging, and how adults make and keep close friends.", "lastChecked": "2026-10-01", "sites": [ "datingpatterns.com", "singleinyour20s.com", "singleinyour30.com", "singleinyour40s.com", "singleinyour50s.com", "singleinyour60s.com" ] }, { "name": "Pepper Schwartz", "labels": [ "Credentialed source" ], "profiles": [ { "platform": "Instagram", "handle": "@dr_pepper_schwartz", "url": "https://www.instagram.com/dr_pepper_schwartz/" } ], "credential": "Sociologist (PhD, Yale); Professor Emerita of Sociology, University of Washington", "credentialSource": "https://soc.washington.edu/people/pepper-schwartz", "focus": "Research and writing on love, sex and relationships, including dating and partnership later in life.", "lastChecked": "2026-10-01", "sites": [ "datingpatterns.com", "singleinyour50s.com", "singleinyour60s.com", "datinginyour40s.com", "singleinyour40s.com", "datingagainafterdivorce.com" ] }, { "name": "Paul C. Brunson", "labels": [ "Trending voice" ], "profiles": [ { "platform": "Instagram", "handle": "@paulcbrunson", "url": "https://www.instagram.com/paulcbrunson/" }, { "platform": "TikTok", "handle": "@paulcbrunson", "url": "https://www.tiktok.com/@paulcbrunson" } ], "credential": null, "credentialSource": null, "focus": "Matchmaker, TV host and author who talks about finding and keeping love, modern dating trends, and relationships at every stage of life.", "lastChecked": "2026-10-01", "sites": [ "datingpatterns.com", "datinginyour30s.com", "datinginyour40s.com", "singleinyour40s.com", "singleinyour50s.com", "datingagainafterdivorce.com" ] } ], "figures": [ { "id": "apps-50-64", "value": "20%", "statement": "of adults ages 50 to 64 have ever used a dating site or app.", "source": { "publisher": "Pew Research Center", "title": "The who, where and why of online dating in the U.S.", "year": "2023", "sample": "6,034 U.S. adults, July 2022", "url": "https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2023/02/02/the-who-where-and-why-of-online-dating-in-the-u-s/" } }, { "id": "ai-genx", "value": "24%", "statement": "of Gen X singles have used AI in their dating lives.", "source": { "publisher": "Kinsey Institute and Match, Singles in America", "title": "15th annual Singles in America study", "year": "2026", "sample": "About 5,000 U.S. singles", "url": "https://mtch.com/news/match-unveils-15th-annual-singles-in-america-study/" } }, { "id": "not-looking", "value": "Half", "statement": "of single U.S. adults are not looking for a relationship or dates right now.", "source": { "publisher": "Pew Research Center", "title": "A profile of single Americans", "year": "2020", "sample": "U.S. adults, 2019 survey", "url": "https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/08/20/a-profile-of-single-americans/" } }, { "id": "burnout", "value": "78%", "statement": "of recent dating app users have felt burned out by the apps at least sometimes.", "source": { "publisher": "Forbes Health and OnePoll", "title": "Dating app burnout survey", "year": "2024", "sample": "1,000 U.S. adults who used a dating app in the past year", "url": "https://www.forbes.com/health/dating/dating-app-fatigue/" } } ], "reading": [ { "title": "5 facts about single Americans for Valentine's Day", "url": "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/02/08/for-valentines-day-5-facts-about-single-americans/", "publisher": "Pew Research Center", "author": null, "year": "2023", "section": "single-in-your-50s", "why": "Quick, reliable numbers on single adults, including how many in midlife are not looking to date.", "lastChecked": "2026-10-01" }, { "title": "What to Do When Love Breaks Your Heart", "url": "https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/what_to_do_when_love_breaks_your_heart", "publisher": "Greater Good Science Center, UC Berkeley", "author": null, "year": null, "section": "post-breakup-loneliness", "why": "Research-backed ways to ease heartbreak, from 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"author": null, "year": null, "section": "dating-at-this-age", "why": "The warning signs of romance scams and what to do if someone you met online asks for money.", "lastChecked": "2026-10-01" }, { "title": "Your child's adjustment to your new romantic relationship", "url": "https://extension.umn.edu/divorce-and-other-family-transitions/your-childs-adjustment-your-new-romantic-relationship", "publisher": "University of Minnesota Extension", "author": null, "year": null, "section": "family-and-freedom", "why": "How children of any age may react to a parent's new partner, and how to pace the introduction.", "lastChecked": "2026-10-01" } ], "quiz": { "url": "https://singleinyour50s.com/quiz/", "axes": [ { "id": "pace", "low": "Slow", "high": "Fast" }, { "id": "certainty", "low": "Easy with not knowing", "high": "Needs to know" }, { "id": "pull", "low": "Drawn to new", "high": "Drawn to familiar" }, { "id": "exit", "low": "Lets go", "high": "Holds on" } ], "results": [ { "id": "full-speed", "name": "Full Speed", "summary": "You feel it early and you let yourself run with it.", "url": "https://singleinyour50s.com/quiz/full-speed/" }, { "id": "slow-burn", "name": "Slow Burn", "summary": "You wait until you are sure, and you are rarely sure early.", "url": "https://singleinyour50s.com/quiz/slow-burn/" }, { "id": "clear-sky", "name": "Clear Sky", "summary": "Not knowing where you stand is the hardest part for you.", "url": "https://singleinyour50s.com/quiz/clear-sky/" }, { "id": "open-ended", "name": "Open Ended", "summary": "You are comfortable letting things stay undefined.", "url": "https://singleinyour50s.com/quiz/open-ended/" }, { "id": "home-pull", "name": "Home Pull", "summary": "You are drawn to a feeling you already know.", "url": "https://singleinyour50s.com/quiz/home-pull/" }, { "id": "new-horizon", "name": "New Horizon", "summary": "You go looking for something different each time.", "url": "https://singleinyour50s.com/quiz/new-horizon/" }, { "id": "long-goodbye", "name": "Long Goodbye", "summary": "You stay past the point where it stopped working.", "url": "https://singleinyour50s.com/quiz/long-goodbye/" }, { "id": "clean-break", "name": "Clean Break", "summary": "When it is over, you are gone.", "url": "https://singleinyour50s.com/quiz/clean-break/" }, { "id": "even-keel", "name": "Even Keel", "summary": "No single lean stands out in your answers.", "url": "https://singleinyour50s.com/quiz/even-keel/" } ] } }