Gen Z plays it safe while millennials embrace polyamory

Looks like Gen Z’s gone vanilla.

Millennials and Gen X are almost seven times more likely to be interested in polyamory than Gen Z, according to new data from Sister Wives, a dating site for polyamorous and polygamous relationships.

Despite their reputation for experimenting and pushing boundaries, Gen Z users made up just 5.5% of the site’s over 18,000 users – behind every other age group except seniors.

The analysis, based on the platform’s own user data, found millennials ages 35 to 44 dominated membership with 38.2%, with Gen X next at 20.8%.

“It’s not Gen Z leading the movement toward non-traditional relationships — it’s millennials,” the site’s report said. “Midlife experimentation is driving users to seek new relationships.”

Younger daters aren’t yet equipped for the emotional juggling that comes with multiple partners, Sister Wives CEO Christopher Alesich said. Many, he noted, are still navigating their first serious relationships before adding more to the mix.

He said ethical non-monogamy “comes with certain ‘rules’” — like strong communication, clear boundaries and good time management — skills that “not everyone in this age group has had a chance to fully develop.”

Experts say the generational gap likely comes down to experience, not attitude. 

“I would suspect that it’s more of a maturation effect than a cohort effect,” said Terri Conley, a University of Michigan psychology professor who studies non-monogamy. “Gen Z participants may not be mature enough to consider multiple relationships at a time … given that they have relatively brief relational histories.”

“They may … be operating under the prevailing cultural messages about monogamy as the pinnacle of romance,” she added. 

Dr. Justin Lehmiller, senior research fellow at the Kinsey Institute and host of the Sex and Psychology podcast, said his own research backs it up. 

“Compared to millennials, Gen Z was both less experienced with and less open to the idea of being in some type of sexually open relationship,” he said. “There’s this stereotype of young adults as being very sexually liberal — as being the generation of polyamory. But it’s not really matching up with the data.”

The numbers tell a different story when it comes to gender.

Gen Z women show more interest in polyamory than women in any other age group, making up 26.47% of users compared to 27.37% of men their age.

That shifts with older generations, where men account for 56% of Baby Boomer users while women drop to just under 10%.

Gen Z’s absence from sites like Sister Wives may simply reflect different dating habits, Michelle Drouin, associate professor of psychology at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, said.

 “They can use Hinge or Tinder to find polyamorous partners or meet them the old-fashioned way at parties or through friends,” she said. “There is no need for them to commit to a sister wife when they can have a bevy of sister girlfriends.”