PRINCETON, NJ, June 23, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Men who were raised by a single parent may be afraid of commitment and are less likely to be married by age 30 than men who grew up in two-parent traditional families, a survey revealed. Men raised by divorced parents also tend to be more mistrustful of women. The survey was conducted by Opinion Research Corp. for the Rutgers National Marriage Project, and asked 1,010 heterosexual men age 25 to 34 their views on marriage. Men who grew up in single-parent homes are more likely to live together than get married, said David Popenoe, co-director of the National Marriage Project. “These men may be more fearful of marriage because of what they’ve seen,” he said, as reported by USA Today.

Of those polled who were already married, 64 percent were from two-parent homes, vs. 37 percent from single-parent homes. Of those who said they’d be ready to “marry tomorrow” if they met the right woman, 54 percent were from two-parent families vs. 43 percent from single-parent households. Of the 22 percent who described themselves as “not the marrying kind,” 59 percent were raised by a single parent vs. 41 percent from homes where parents were both present. Men raised in religious homes and where fathers spent more time at home with the kids were more likely to be open to marriage than men from secular homes or homes where a father was often unavailable. “The notion that relationships could last is hard for [men from divorced homes] to believe,” psychologist Judith Wallerstein said. She is conducting a 25-year study of children after divorce. “They just don’t have a vision of how you can work things out,” she said. Read the USA Today coverage: https://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2004-06-22-married-young_x.htm