The Profile of Women Who Practice Sugar Dating

Sugar dating is a type of relationship in which, broadly speaking, an older man offers financial support to a younger woman in exchange for companionship and, in some cases, sexual intimacy. A master's thesis by Kimberley Kirkeby, defended in 2019 at Ball State University, set out to understand why college women enter this kind of relationship and what characteristics they share.

The study compared 206 women: 44 who were currently sugar dating or had done so in the past, and 162 students who had never been in this kind of relationship.

Why do they start sugar dating?

Money emerged as the main motivation. Participants mostly pointed to covering everyday expenses and education costs, along with the chance to earn money without devoting as many hours to a conventional job. Lifestyle perks, such as restaurants, shopping, and a social life, also came up.

On the other hand, finding a partner for a long-term romantic relationship was rated as unimportant. For these women, sugar dating seemed to be about more than just needing money: it was also about flexibility and the chance to enjoy a more comfortable lifestyle.

Is there a "personality type"?

The researcher assessed participants using the Big Five, a model that describes personality through five traits: extraversion, openness to experience, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and the tendency toward negative emotions. The expectation was that sugar babies would be, for example, more extraverted and more open to new experiences.

The results did not reveal such a simple profile. Only one trait showed a clear difference: neuroticism, linked to a tendency toward worry, anxiety, and negative emotions. Interestingly, the women who practiced sugar dating scored lower in neuroticism than the others, although the difference was small. There was no evidence that they were more extraverted, less organized, or less agreeable.

A stronger drive for new experiences

A clearer difference showed up in sensation seeking. Sugar babies were more inclined to look for exciting and different experiences, both in their sex lives and outside of them.

This does not mean every woman who practices sugar dating fits this profile, only that the trait appeared more often in this group.

Sex and commitment

Sugar babies were also more willing to separate sex from emotional commitment: they were more likely to see sex as possible without a traditional romantic relationship. Their average score on this trait was 6.15, compared with 3.96 among the other women.

This difference helps explain why finding a traditional romantic relationship ranked as an unimportant motivation.

What about mental health?

The study measured depression, anxiety, stress, and self-esteem and found no meaningful differences between the two groups. On average, the women who practiced sugar dating did not have worse mental health than the other participants.

Within the sugar baby group, however, those who worried more about being judged by family and friends reported more symptoms of depression and lower self-esteem.

So who are these women?

The study did not find a simple psychological profile. In general personality traits, sugar babies were not clearly different from other women. The most striking differences were specific ones: a stronger drive for new and exciting experiences and a greater willingness to have sex without emotional commitment. Their reasons for entering sugar dating, meanwhile, were mainly financial and tied to flexibility and lifestyle.

The study does not allow us to say that all sugar babies share these characteristics. Still, it challenges some stereotypes: in this group, the women were not more depressed or emotionally unstable. The profile that emerged was more about seeking novelty and holding a more open view of the relationship between sex and commitment.