By IANS
New York : Men, more than women, may sacrifice their career, education and other ambitions for a romantic relationship, claims a new study.
The study refutes the preconception that women were more likely to prioritise people and relationships and men were more focussed on themselves and their achievements.
It says that men were more likely than women to give priority to a romantic relationship when asked to choose between a relationship and their career, education and travelling.
Researchers Catherine Mosher of Duke Medical Centre and Sharon Danoff-Burg from the University of Albany in the US looked at whether personality traits influence students’ life goals, and focussed on the relative importance of romantic relationships and achievement goals in particular.
They studied a total of 237 undergraduate students – 80 men and 157 women aged 16 to 25 years and asked them to complete questionnaires measuring their personality traits and life goals, reported science portal Science Daily.
Life goals included seven achievement goals (physical fitness, travel, financial success, home ownership, contribution to society, career and education) and five different types of relationships (romantic, marriage, children, circle of friends and family ties).
The participants’ willingness to sacrifice achievement goals for a romantic relationship was also examined.
As expected, self-focus was linked to the importance of achieving, such as having a successful career. Focus on others was related to the importance of having meaningful relationships and making a contribution to society.
Unexpectedly however, men were more likely than women to give priority to a romantic relationship when asked to choose between a relationship and their career, education and travelling, the study found.
The authors suggest that college women in this study may have been strongly committed to working towards a successful career and therefore hesitant to abandon their goals for a romantic relationship.
In contrast to women, men also appear to derive more emotional support from their opposite-sex relationships than their same-sex friendships.