Caring Connections - "Dad Bod" Survey

It's been a decade now since the "dad bod" became a pop culture fixation.

And there's still much to debate. What exactly is a dad bod? Is it a formerly fit guy with a slightly softened belly, or a 40-year-old dad who's 45 pounds overweight, or both?

Are women really attracted to dad bods, or do just as many women say they're an excuse for a lazy or unhealthy lifestyle?

To answer these questions, the team at Solitaired recently surveyed men and women in every state about dad bod confidence, dad bod attraction, and much more.

The women's perspective:

• 73% of women say they believe attraction to the dad bod is still growing in popularity
• 56% of women find the dad bod attractive, almost exactly matching the 54% of men who assumed they did
• Millennial women report the highest attraction of any generation, while baby boomer women report the lowest
• 41% of women associate the dad bod with a relaxed, easygoing lifestyle, and 37% with a busy life balancing work and family

The men's perspective:

• More than two-fifths of American men say they have a dad bod
• 59% of men with a dad bod feel confident in their body
• 1 in 3 men without children also identify with the label, signaling that the physique has moved beyond fatherhood into a cultural identity

This dataset moves past the celebrity examples that have dominated the dad bod coverage over the past decade and focuses on how real women feel about the fathers in their lives.