How to Meet People What other singles recommend

April 1999 issue

by Janet L. Jacobsen

At a recent singles dance we invited people to fill out short questionnaires on various singles issues. One questionnaire focused on attitudes and experiences about meeting people.

Meeting thru the personals

Nearly an equal portion (70% of the men and 63% of women) had placed a personal ad. Of those surveyed, including those who had not run an ad, only 5% of men and 15% of women said they would not recommend placing a personal. But while 52% of women and 50% of men said they would recommend running a personal, that still left a large group (45% of men and 33% of women) who were "undecided" about placing a personal.
On the question of whether one had answered a personal ad, 70% of men and 56% of women had experience answering ads. And 56% of women and 60% of men said they recommend answering personal ads. The number of all survey respondents who said they would not recommend answering ads was the same as for placing an ad--5% of men and 15% of women. That left fewer undecideds when it comes to answering ads--35% of men and 29% of women.

Meeting thru the Internet

Meeting on the Internet was more of an unknown; only 35% of men and 29% of women had meet people through the Internet. Of all respondents, 35% of men and 22% of women would recommend meeting through the Internet, 10% of men and 19% of women said no, and 55% of men and 59% of women were undecided on whether they would recommend the method.

Going out to meet people

"Generally, how often in a month do you go out to meet new people?" On the average, men go out to meet people 6.5 times a month, compared to 4.4 times for women. Surprisingly, two women said they never go out to meet people, despite the fact that they answered the survey at a singles dance. But some singles, both men and women, go out as often as 20 times a month to meet new people.
"When going out to meet people, how often do you go out alone?" While 30% of the women say they never go out alone, only 5% of men never do. On the other end of the spectrum, only 15% of women say they "nearly always" go alone, compared to fully half the men who "nearly always" go out alone to meet people. Overall, 60% of women go alone less than half the time, and 75% of the men go out alone half the time or more, when looking to meet new people.
On the question of going alone, the survey asked, "Is it all right for a woman to go out alone to a nightclub?" Among the men 74% said yes, and only 5% said no. (21% were undecided.) But while nearly as many women agreed (70% said yes), a full 22% said no, and only 7% considered themselves undecided.

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