Five years is nothing. I'm nine years older (I'm 45 and he's 36) and we've been together 5 years. The gap seems smaller at 45 and 36 than it did at 40 and 31. As a consequence of age, I'm the one with the assets and he's the one who's done the most travelling, some of his with the military. We are each once divorced but neither of us have any children. We're both in it for the long haul :-)

Actually, I am in a long-term relationship with a woman about 10 years my senior, and we couldn't be happier! We both have the same things we want in life, both enjoy each others company and we just look forward to each day together. She originally was a bit unsure about being with someone much younger but over time went on, she no longer worried that I would want to be with someone younger - she is my match.

I am 25 and my boyfriend is 20. We have been together for 2 years now and I have to admit I felt a lot better once he turned 20 and I was no longer dating a teenager!. But we get along perfectly, he's is pretty mature for his age and im quite immature for my age so we kinda meet half way. I have never had a better boyfriend than him. I too have moments when Im hanging out with him and his friends or going to parties with him and I start to feel a lil out of place but that is also my own self-consciousness. He sometimes has to remind me that I am the only one who cares about our age difference.

I'm 5.5 years older than my man. I'm now 28 and he's 23. I certainly had some issues going into it because he was 19 at the time and I was 25! But we had been friends for a couple of years and I had no idea about his age for the longest time. I thought he was about 22. He is a lot older and more responsible than I was at that age, that's for sure. And I'm a bit more youthful than some of my peers. Although I'm getting more nana with each passing day!

It works out really well for us. I agree that sometimes the super young'uns who he's more relaxed with make me feel a bit out of place. But the same was true of him and my older friends, especially initially. I was also initially concerned that he'd ditch me for a younger model, but then he thought I'd ditch him for a suave businessman type. But nah, we are a great match. :)

Incidentally, my mum is 5 years older than her husband. And Sandra Bullock is five years older than Jesse James! hahaha

Me and my partner have 13 years between us, I'm 21 he is 34, when we meet i thought he was about 27 and he thought i was older, we don't really notice the difference until you kind of look back when i was born he was 13 and that's when we kind of get a bit weird, but we are a great match, he still looks young and is defiantly not ready to settle down which is great because I'm certainly not.I've dated guys my age and a couple of years older but i find them really immature and im to busy with my job for that crap. We basically balance out as a 25 year old. I don't think it matters if someone is alot older if your with them for the right reasons.

The fiancée of one of my best friends is 7 years younger than her. And there are no tensions because of the age. They met when he was just out of high school and she had already been working for a few years after studying. I personally think there is no difference to the man being older than the woman. It is more the perceptions of society. Anyway, they have been together more than a decade, so don't ever worry about the age gap ;-)

Well my husband is 7 years younger than me! I'm 42 he's 35. Our 9th wedding anniversary is coming up this Thursday (12 years together) we are very happy and have two beautiful daughters 4 and 2. Works for us!

If he was 16 and you were 21 maybe, or you were 17 and he was 12... but if he's 26 and you are 31 then you should be be old enough to just have a relationship without stressing about the age difference.

My ex was 2 years older than me and my boyf now, my skipper, is 1 year younger than me. It never fails to amuse me and my family how my younger boyf is so much more mature than my ex. My skipper is courteous, thoughtful, shows respect to both my parents and is endlessly patient with my little sister. My ex had trouble with these things.

The thing I have realised that is the biggest differrence is that me and my skipper have the same kind of values. This is a huge help, as it means that even when we disagree on smaller things, its never really a huge deal because we agree on the big things that really matter.

Ok so my partner of a couple of years is 17 years older than me and comes from the most polar opposite cultural background (I'm 30). And we're happy as pigs in the proverbial. Just because something is "on average" the case doesn't mean it is valid on a case by case basis. I worried about it to start with, especially about whether, although it wasn't a problem at the time, whether it would become a problem in the future. So far so good. And I genuinley think the future looks as promising for us as any other couple closer in age. We're at about the same place in life and want the same things in the future. It's funny also how I've now started noticing how many normal people have (successful)relationships which don't fit the sterotypical age matching mold. I think once you mature to a certain level of adulthood (I'm not talking about 14 year olds seeing 24 years olds here) that age is not as big a factor in relationship success as many other variables.