There’s an old expression that in relationships, opposites attract. That belief could have been borne out of the need for complimentary skill sets, enabling the people in the relationship to balance each other. This naturally also would lead to a better division of labor and handling of responsibilities.
Among those who study such things, there have been studies both for and against the notion that opposites attract. In one study, the author suggested it really didn’t matter much.
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Getting back to our study – what does the general public think? Do you think that opposites attract?
If you are think like the majority of the people we asked, then yes, opposites do attract. According to our study, 63% of adult Americans said that, when it comes to relationships, yes, opposite do attract.
Gender didn’t make much difference – both men and women felt the same about this issue. As the table below shows, there was no real different between the sexes on this topic.
| Gender | Male | Female |
| Yes | 63% | 64% |
| No | 37% | 36% |
Perhaps more interesting, age didn’t seem to play a big role here either. As the table below shows, the belief that opposites attract holds fairly steady across age ranges. The notion that opposites attract seems to be a little more common among those aged 55 to 64, and drops among those older. But overall, there wasn’t much variation by age.
| Age | 18 to 24 | 25 to 34 | 35 to 44 | 45 to 54 | 55 to 64 | 65 to 74 |
| Yes | 67% | 61% | 64% | 66% | 74% | 57% |
| No | 33% | 39% | 36% | 34% | 26% | 43% |
And there you have it folks – if you think opposites attract, you are surely not alone!