Hanging out with people older than yourself, is it normal?

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For most of my life, I haven't really hung out with people my own age, at least until I met like-minded individuals in the last few years. I look at most other people my own age and they hang out with similarly-aged peers, while I am hanging out with people who are 5-15 years older than me. I feel like I have adopted a lot of older generational viewpoints and view the world from a different perspective than member of my own generation. However, many might say, well "you are getting the mature viewpoint and developing your own maturity," I still miss the energy and excitement of my own generation. I have very little social energy to deal with other people, and while I want to become part of my own generation (thru events such as concerts and nerdish conventions, one of which I feel), I feel a lot of insecurity about joining them. In addition, I do not agree with my generation on a lot of things.

Anybody with similar experiences?

I can't vote in your poll. I hang out with people in all three categories. There's pros and cons to all three, and I've found the maturity level is actually quite similar.

When I was in elementary school, I far preferred to hang out with adults over kids my age because they would listen to me rant about my obsessions and thought it was cute.

When I was in high school, I far preferred to hang out with kids from 3-10 because they looked up to me and thought I was cool while kids my own age wanted nothing to do with me except to tease and harass me for being "weird"

When I was in college, I finally related to my peers for the first time in my life and had friends mostly my age.

Now I'm in my mid 30s, my small social circle ranges in age from 26 to 48 with my best friend being just a month younger than me.

Allie Kat
http://www.myaspergerslifestory.com/

I always hang out with people older than me, except for a few rare exceptions I can't seem to be able to get on with people my own age. People my own age tend to think I'm weird and we usually have very little in common.

I prefer hanging out with people who are a few years older, though I don't care much for socializing anymore. I've never had much in common with people of my generation. I also prefer dating women who are older than I am. My current girlfriend is 4 years older than me

As i grew up i were mostly "socialicing" with persons that could deliver answers to all my questions, meaning adults!
As i get older i also find my need to socialice is decreasing. But the persosns i do interact with, are at age 36 (electronic ingenieer) 46, 62, 66, 66 and, unknown but around, 65...
- Less my wife, thats nearly 8 years younger than me! - She were 18 and i 26 when we got engaged, after knowing eachother for 1½ year...

my mental age is stuck at mid-twenty or so. i have not much in common with people my factual age. i only see younger people nowadays; my four aspie kids and a few of their aspie friends.

a few years ago when i still was lecturing at design/architect schools and universities, i mostly saw my students.

i don't have high hopes that i ever will become older, nor do i have high hopes that i ever will find a partner that will match me.

when i was a young boy, it was opposite... i related better to older people.

it's like it changed at age 25 or so.

I voted regarding my current state. My closest friends are 7, 16, 6 years older than me. I hang out with them.

At school I always had one or two classmates whom I used to talk or play with, but rarely hung out with them. At the playground I frequently got an acquaintance, but never made a friendship out of it. I felt comfortable myself talking to or listening to adults from my broader family, friends of my parents, colleagues of my mom (teachers).

At the Uni I used to hang out with peers really for the first time. However, I refused to go to places where dancing was a must and making a relationship was the main goal. I hung out most with a friend who was 5 years younger than me, he didn't like to hang out with his peers at all, and he acted in many ways more mature than me at that time.

all my life i've never gotten along well with people of my generation or younger.

In general, I can't relate to most people my age at all, though I haven't mixed properly with NTs my age outside of family for a while. Perhaps things have changed but I won't get my hopes up.
I find I can have a much better conversation with people older than me.

I preferred the company of adults throughout my childhood, all the way through high school. I found that I could more easily interact with them. It helped that I could carry on adult conversations about topics like science and history. I actually remember more of my teachers from school than my peers, because they were the closest thing to friends I actually had. I generally ignored whatever didn't interest me, and most of my classmates fell into this category. Adults were interesting because they had lots of information and I was always interested in learning things. Eventually, disinterest was replaced with dislike as I hated teenage culture. Oddly enough, I actually made friends with younger kids and spent a lot of time with my much younger cousins.

I was able to do OK getting along with people my own age in college, where it was all focused on class and generally everyone was there because they wanted to be and not because they had to. I still found it easier to get along with older people. I actually find I still get along pretty well with people several years older or younger than myself. I was always sort of at a different stage than the people who were my chronological age, and that gap has sort of held up.

When i was a kid, including adolescence, I preferred to hang around people that were older by a few years or more. In early adult years I started making myself hang out more with those my own age. I don't have a problem being alone, either.

I'm 20 and I have a 39-year-old friend. I'm also acquaintances with a teacher who is in his 40s. So in my world, it's normal.

I prefer hanging out with older people. I find them to be more understanding than people my age. I'm 16 and I like people in the 20's and older usually. I don't usually hang out with people in their 60's or older though.