Young man laying down scrolling on his cell phone

February 9, 2024

Gen Z’s Romance Gap: Why Nearly Half of Young Men Aren’t Dating

Until very recently, American culture has operated on the flawed notion that teenage dating and sex required little encouragement. Teenage romance was once seen as a natural part of American adolescence. This, it turns out, is completely wrong. Continue Reading →

Cartoon rendering of a series of different online dating app prospects, on phone screens

February 9, 2023

From Swiping to Sexting: The Enduring Gender Divide in American Dating and Relationships

Findings from the January 2023 American Perspectives Survey

The January 2023 American Perspectives Survey sheds some light on dating preferences, experiences, and perspectives. The national survey of more than 5,000 adults age 18 and older, including nearly 800 single adults, finds that Americans have strong dating preferences when it comes to living at home, being unemployed, and smoking. Continue Reading →

Image of a like on social media

January 30, 2023

Deal-Breakers and Dating Apps: Trends Redefining Romance and Relationships in America

American social and dating life has undergone a dramatic transformation in the past few years. Join AEI’s Daniel Cox as he presents findings from a nationally representative survey and moderates a panel discussion that includes the Washington Post’s Christine Emba, Pew Research Center’s Juliana Horowitz, and Ipsos’s Mallory Newall. Continue Reading →

February 13, 2020

Younger Christians Care Less About Their Partner’s Religious Beliefs

Younger Christians are much more comfortable than older Christians with the idea of dating someone who does not share their views about God. Continue Reading →

Cartoon of a Republican elephant and a Democrat donkey, multiple elephants in showing affection to one another and multiple donkeys showing affection to one another

February 6, 2020

Partisan Attachment: How Politics is Changing Dating and Relationships in the Trump Era

Findings from the January 2020 American Perspectives Survey

The January 2020 American Perspectives Survey explores dating and relationships. Abortion and Donald Trump are key dating dealbreakers for many Americans. Continue Reading →

Generation Uncoupled

Generation Uncoupled book

Generation Uncoupled: America's New Gender Divide and the Crisis of Human Connection

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Survey Reports

Daniel A. Cox
July 23, 2026

A Digital Divide in American Adolescence: Gender, Class, and the New Teenage Experience

If teenage years once represented a time of rebellion, teenagers’ lives today are marked less by pushing boundaries and more by building their own. Many teenage experiences are less common than they once were—dating, working a part-time job, and experimenting with drugs and alcohol are less common experiences. The 2026 American Teenagers Survey from the Continue Reading →

Daniel A. Cox, Jae Grace, Avery Shields
April 27, 2026

Strangers Next Door: The Decline of Neighborhood Socializing and the Class Divide in Belonging

Acknowledgment The American Enterprise Institute’s Survey Center on American Life is grateful to the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation for its generous support of this research. As Americans spend more of their time online, the neighborhood—once a primary physical location for real-world socialization—is playing less of a central role than ever before. Since Continue Reading →