A recent New York Times article by Sarah Kershaw explores the mythologies and realities of “cougars”–older women who date and marry younger men.

In “Rethinking the Older Woman-Younger Man Relationship,” Social Explorer’s Andrew Beveridge provides the data behind the phenomenon:

An analysis of census data on age difference in marriages showed that the number of marriages between women who are at least 5 or 10 years older than their spouses is still small, 5.4 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively. But both rates doubled between 1960 and 2007, according to Andrew A. Beveridge, a demographer at Queens College, who conducted the analysis.

At the same time, the data showed that the percentage of marriages of older men and younger women decreased steadily through 1980, and since then it has remained stable.

Social Explorer also provided the data for a New York Times graphic.

Click here to read the rest of the article.