How long should you date before getting engaged?

Jamie BallardData Journalist
July 10, 2018, 5:00 PM GMT+0

One in five people (20%) say that couples should generally date for 12-18 months before getting engaged

Getting engaged quickly seems to be the newest trend for young celebrity couples. Singer Ariana Grande and comedian Pete Davidson recently announced their engagement after only a few weeks of dating, and singer Justin Bieber and model Hailey Baldwin followed suit soon after.

But it looks like most Americans don’t approve: Only 2% of people said that people should date for “less than six months” before getting engaged, according to data from YouGov.

One in five people (20%) say that couples should generally date for 12-18 months before getting engaged. Another 15% say they should date for 18-24 months, while another 15% think two to three years of dating is ideal.

Women tended to be more slightly cautious than men. While 20% of men said they thought six to 12 months of dating was long enough, only 16% of women agreed. The most popular response from women was 12-18 months of dating before an engagement, with 21% choosing this answer.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, younger millennials aged 18-24 (Davidson, Bieber and Baldwin all fall into this category, though Grande recently turned 25) were the most likely to think “less than six months” was an acceptable amount of time to date before getting engaged, with 6% choosing this response. However, a much larger percentage of people in this age range (18%) said that couples should date for two to three years before getting engaged.