Article below:
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www.psychologytoday.com
Men lean on romantic partners for emotional support and intimacy more than women do, which is why they put more effort into establishing relationships, benefit more from relationships, initiate fewer breakups, and have a harder time after breakups. Men behave this way, they argue, because they have fewer emotional and social supports outside their romantic relationship, relative to women, and thus are more dependent on their romantic partners to meet many of their needs.
Men are more eager to enter into relationships, citing research that shows that relative to women, men express more desire for a partner when single, fall in love more quickly, and say that they love their partners sooner.. They may be motivated, consciously or unconsciously, by the fact that men in relationships are on average healthier than men not in relationships and that emotional support provided by partners may drive this pattern
Once men are in relationships, they’re less likely to end them and the authors attribute this to men receiving a far greater proportion of their emotional support from their romantic partners than from their friends and family, compared to women. Like my recently enlightened self, they know what’s coming if they do part ways with their partner: a period of grief and personal struggle, one that research suggests may on average last longer and be more intense than what a woman experiences post-breakup
Why are men in this position in the first place? Specifically, we associate nurturing and supportive behaviors with femininity, so men learn not to be vulnerable or lean on others, while women become practiced at turning to others when distressed or in need. Men name their romantic partners as their primary confidants much more often than women do perhaps because they really don’t feel safe turning to almost anyone else.
Knowing all that, it’s unsurprising that single men feel emptier and less complete than single women do Men are responding to the painful reality that comes with needing more authentic and meaningful human connection than they are getting. In the face of crushing loneliness they rely too much on their romantic partners—seemingly the only people to whom they can turn.
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Thoughts?
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Men Need Romantic Relationships More Than Women Do
1. With fewer social connections, they need a partner's support.
Men lean on romantic partners for emotional support and intimacy more than women do, which is why they put more effort into establishing relationships, benefit more from relationships, initiate fewer breakups, and have a harder time after breakups. Men behave this way, they argue, because they have fewer emotional and social supports outside their romantic relationship, relative to women, and thus are more dependent on their romantic partners to meet many of their needs.
Men are more eager to enter into relationships, citing research that shows that relative to women, men express more desire for a partner when single, fall in love more quickly, and say that they love their partners sooner.. They may be motivated, consciously or unconsciously, by the fact that men in relationships are on average healthier than men not in relationships and that emotional support provided by partners may drive this pattern
Once men are in relationships, they’re less likely to end them and the authors attribute this to men receiving a far greater proportion of their emotional support from their romantic partners than from their friends and family, compared to women. Like my recently enlightened self, they know what’s coming if they do part ways with their partner: a period of grief and personal struggle, one that research suggests may on average last longer and be more intense than what a woman experiences post-breakup
Why are men in this position in the first place? Specifically, we associate nurturing and supportive behaviors with femininity, so men learn not to be vulnerable or lean on others, while women become practiced at turning to others when distressed or in need. Men name their romantic partners as their primary confidants much more often than women do perhaps because they really don’t feel safe turning to almost anyone else.
Knowing all that, it’s unsurprising that single men feel emptier and less complete than single women do Men are responding to the painful reality that comes with needing more authentic and meaningful human connection than they are getting. In the face of crushing loneliness they rely too much on their romantic partners—seemingly the only people to whom they can turn.
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Thoughts?
