Single Parents List Dating Challenges for Yahoo! Personals Survey

Single Parents List Dating Challenges for Yahoo! Personals Survey

By Rad Dewey

Updated: Sep 25, 2007

Introducing their children to their dates is the toughest challenge single parents face as they get back into dating, according to a survey conducted for Yahoo! Personals by Harris Interactive. Survey results were announced in conjunction with National Singles Week, Sept. 16-22.

Almost equal to the difficulty of making introductions, according to the daters surveyed, were the challenges of finding suitors who like their children would like and finding suitors who like children.
Specifically:

- 16 percent of survey respondents identified introductions as the greatest challenge
- 16 percent of survey respondents identified introductions as the greatest challenge
- 14 percent said finding a suitor their kids would like was the toughest
- 12 percent said the most difficult thing about dating was choosing suitors who liked children
- 9 percent identified coordinating schedules as the toughest problem
- 7 percent said it was revealing that they had children
- 12 percent said it was another problem, not listed among the choices

Asked when they introduced their dates to their children, most survey respondents (28 percent) said it would be when they and their date started to "envision a future together." Another 19 percent said it would be when they first started dating. This was followed by "when they stopped seeing other people" (9 percent), "when they committed" (8 percent), and when they were ready for "him or her to sleep over" (2 percent).

"There is anticipation and anxiety leading up to that first meeting and a lot of questions such as, "Will they accept each other?" and "Will they like each other?," says Caroline Presno, commenting on the survey findings. "To cope with this, single parents should allow things to happen naturally and not try to force a connection between their date and their children. Making the first meeting a brief one is a way to take some of the pressure off." Presno, Ed.D., is a psychotherapist and author of "Profiling Your Date, A Smart Woman's Guide to Evaluating a Man" (St. Martin's Griffin, Sept. 2007).

Bruce Willis: Most admired single parent

The survey asked single parents to pick the person they most admire from a list of single celebrity parents. Bruce Willis received 28 percent of the vote and Reese Witherspoon received 12 percent. Also on the list and receiving votes were Diane Keaton (6 percent), P. Diddy (5 percent), Sheryl Crow (4 percent), Britney Spears (2 percent), and Kevin Federline (1 percent).

Favorite male celebrity dates

The survey asked singles to choose the celebrity they most wanted to date. George Clooney received 20 percent of the single female vote. Among the other male celebrities listed, Matthew McConaughey received 13 percent of the votes, Kanye West (5 percent), Andy Roddick (5 percent), Derek Jeter (4 percent), and Ricky Martin (3 percent).

Favorite female celebrity dates

Single males chose Jessica Alba as their favorite with 28 percent of the vote and Jennifer Aniston received 11 percent. Also on the list and dnd receiving votes were Queen Latifah (7 percent), Jessica Simpson (6 percent), Maria Sharapova (3 percent), Sandra Oh (1 percent), and Padma Lakshmi (1 percent). Lakshimi is the host of Top Chef on Bravo.

Harris Interactive conducted the Yahoo! Personals singles survey by telephone during August 2007 among 1,005 U.S. adults, age 18+.