Any lingering stigma about finding true love online seems to be fading, particularly among older adults, researchers found.
In a study of 175 newlywed couples scientists at Iowa State University said those who met through online dating agencies, or social networking sites, tended to be older than other couples who met through traditional ways offline.
They were also less likely to be marrying for the first time and had shorter courtships before tying the knot -- 18.5 months instead of 42 months.
"In many cases, there are real structural forces that encourage the support and use of these technologies," said Alicia Cast, an associate professor of sociology at the university.
"And one of them is just structural constraints on people's time -- such as people who have kids, or have full-time jobs, or work long or extensive hours," she added in a statement.
But the online spouses were as attractive, intelligent and had the same self-esteem levels of the offline couples.
Online dating agencies have gained in popularity and acceptability. A recent survey by Forbes.com that named New York as the best U.S. city for singles found it achieved the No. 1 position because it has more people with active online dating accounts than any other city in the country.
U.S.-based eHarmony, which launched in the United States in 2000, claims an average of 236 of its members marry every day in the United States as a result of being matched on the site.
eHarmony is also available in Canada, Australia and Britain.
Cast and her graduate assistant Jamie McCartney studied data on the couples over a three-year period. Twenty five couples in the study had met online.
"My understanding is that there are very few studies that have been able to simultaneously get access to a source of couples who met through more conventional means, along with those who choose to meet people online," said Cast.
一項(xiàng)研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，在網(wǎng)上尋找真愛(ài)似乎已經(jīng)不再是一件令人羞愧的事，尤其是對(duì)于大齡成年人而言。
艾奧瓦州立大學(xué)的一組研究人員對(duì)175對(duì)新婚夫婦開展的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，通過(guò)在線交友網(wǎng)站或社交網(wǎng)站結(jié)識(shí)的夫婦通常比通過(guò)傳統(tǒng)的“線下”方式結(jié)識(shí)的夫婦年齡大。
此外，他們是初婚的幾率較小，而且在結(jié)婚前談戀愛(ài)的時(shí)間也較短，僅為18.5個(gè)月，而傳統(tǒng)的談戀愛(ài)時(shí)間是42個(gè)月。
艾奧瓦州立大學(xué)社會(huì)學(xué)副教授艾莉西亞·卡斯特說(shuō)：“在很多情況下，真實(shí)存在的‘結(jié)構(gòu)性力量’促進(jìn)了人們對(duì)這些技術(shù)的支持和使用。”
她在一項(xiàng)聲明中說(shuō)：“其中一種力量就是人們時(shí)間上的結(jié)構(gòu)性限制，比如有孩子、全職工作或工作時(shí)間較長(zhǎng)的人。”
不過(guò)，通過(guò)網(wǎng)絡(luò)結(jié)識(shí)的配偶和在現(xiàn)實(shí)中尋得的一樣迷人、聰慧、有自尊。
如今，在線交友網(wǎng)站的受歡迎程度和接受程度越來(lái)越高。近日由福布斯網(wǎng)站開展的一項(xiàng)調(diào)查評(píng)選紐約為美國(guó)最佳單身城市，因?yàn)榧~約擁有活躍在線交友帳號(hào)的人比美國(guó)其他任何城市都要多。
于2000年創(chuàng)建于美國(guó)的eHarmony婚戀網(wǎng)站稱，美國(guó)通過(guò)該網(wǎng)站結(jié)識(shí)的會(huì)員平均每天有236人喜結(jié)連理。
eHarmony在加拿大、澳大利亞和英國(guó)也有分支。
卡斯特和她的研究生助手杰米·麥克卡特尼在三年內(nèi)對(duì)這些夫婦的資料進(jìn)行了研究。其中25對(duì)夫婦通過(guò)網(wǎng)絡(luò)相識(shí)。
卡斯特說(shuō)：“現(xiàn)在很少有研究能同時(shí)獲得通過(guò)傳統(tǒng)渠道和通過(guò)網(wǎng)絡(luò)渠道結(jié)識(shí)的夫婦的兩手資料。”