May-December romances are frequently misunderstood. When you're dating someone older, people might assume that the dynamic of the relationship is unhealthy or fundamentally unequal.

The 'gold digger' stigma can also come into play, and suggests that people choose older partners solely for their money."It's a time-honored tradition in Hollywood for older men to date younger women, and cougar couples have become all the rage as well," the New York Daily News explained, in an introduction to a slideshow on the May-December relationship trope in the entertainment industry.

Courtney Croft, a 26-year-old Nashville-based anthropologist married to a 40-year-old man, explained that while she and her partner didn't encounter too many problems in their personal lives, other people didn't always react well to their relationship."Most of the issues stemmed from other people's initial negative reactions of us being together. I had some people flat out say it was gross that I was with someone so much older," Croft said.

"Or that certainly he had ill-intentions, because why else would a man his age be interested in someone so young?

To learn more about what these relationships are really like, ATTN: reached out to four people who have dated someone older than themselves via email about their experiences and relationship advice.

When your partner looks visibly older than you, people might get a little nasty.

There are also alternative social theories for age differences in relationships as well as suggested reasons for 'alternative' age-hypogamous relationships.

Age-disparity relationships have been documented for most of recorded history and have been regarded with a wide range of attitudes dependant on sociocultural norms and legal systems. Relationships with age disparity of all kinds have been observed with both men and women as the older or younger partner.

A study released in 2003 by the United Kingdom's Office for National Statistics concluded that the proportion of women in England and Wales marrying younger men rose from 15% to 26% between 19.

Concepts of these relationships, including what defines an age disparity, have developed over time and vary among societies.

Differences in age preferences for mates can stem from evolutionary mating strategies and age preferences in sexual partners may vary cross culturally.

"Of course if is much more common for older men to marry much younger women, up to twenty years difference.........it is quite acceptable it would seem but for an older woman to marry a younger man is often seen as inappropriate....." Me too.

Alan Is it seriously inappropriate for an older woman to marry a younger man in Chinese culture?