More people are choosing the single life over marriage. But some new research is showing that men and women may have different reasons. I found it interesting that these two news articles crossed my path on the same day.
Scared Men
Bachelor Carl Weisman just released his book, So Why Have You Never Been Married, where he shared data from a survey of 1,500 heterosexual men.
He concluded that most men were not afraid of marriage—but they were afraid of a bad marriage.
"Men are 10 times more scared of marrying the wrong person than of never getting married at all," Weisman told Reuters in a telephone interview.
"This is the first generation of people who have grown up with bad divorces. People assume there is something wrong if you don't marry but these are men who have made a different choice and not given in to social pressures."
Weisman said U.S. figures showed that in 1980 about 6 percent of men aged in their early 40s had never married but this number had now risen to 17 percent.
Satisfied Women
A recent British study finds that one in 12 women between 25 and 44 live alone, doubling the number who did so two decades ago.
The independent woman has been dubbed the Freemale because she prefers her freedom to the demands of a family.
A combination of work, a busy social life and gym workouts or sports activities, means that many feel they have little time to share with a love interest.
Paula Hall, a relationship psychotherapist with Relate, said many women had become cynical about how viable long-term relationships actually are.
"If you're busy and fulfilled with lots of close friends, then relationships may seem a bit irrelevant, emotionally high-risk and a lot of hard work," she said.
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