Bachelors for Life?

by John T. Molloy

(Page 3 of 5)

Not Your Average Joe

Joe's experience was not unique. An attorney, he told us he had been going to a restaurant-bar for three years on Friday nights. It was a hangout for attorneys, judges, and others who worked in the court system. Joe explained that the restaurant was usually full, and on Friday nights the bar area was crowded with young singles, while most of those seated at tables were older and married. When he showed up one Friday night, there was a new hostess seating people. Without asking, she seated him at a table, assuming he wouldn't want to join the singles at the bar. Joe was too embarrassed to contradict her, and he realized she was right-he no longer belonged at the bar.

Most of the men we interviewed, however, asserted that they hadn't become convinced they were too old for the singles scene because of one incident. It was a series of small incidents over a period of time that turned them off-usually comments made by one or more young women that made them realize they no longer fit into the place they had frequented for years.

One of the focus groups composed of men about to marry said that if a woman wants to know whether a man is ready to get married, she should ask him how much he enjoys the singles scene. If he says it isn't as much fun as it used to be, he's a very good prospect, because he's ready to move on to the next step. They were right, but there's more to it than that: The woman should also ask the man a number of questions, including his age.

Bachelors for Life?

It's easy to spot a confirmed bachelor. He's so used to living alone that he will list the pleasures of the solo life-coming and going as he pleases, not answering to anyone-as reasons for not marrying. But there's still hope. Thousands of former "confirmed" bachelors get married each year, usually to women they've known for less than a year or whom they've been going with for many years. Once men reach age forty-seven to fifty without marrying, the chances they will marry do not disappear, but they drop dramatically.

Please keep in mind that I'm talking about men who have never been married. Men who have been married before are open to remarry much later in life. They have entirely different relationships with women.

If a woman in her forties or older who has never been married is dating a man who has never been married, the chance of him marrying is still good. But at that time in her life, most eligible men are either widowed or divorced, and their chances of marrying again are substantially higher than those of men of the same age who have never married. In other words, if a woman meets two men in their late forties, one who has been married and the other a lifelong bachelor, she should choose the one who has been married before. Although the first man may on the surface appear more cautious, he's far more likely to marry than the second. Many single women say divorced men are often bitter and defensive, so they don't date them. That's usually a mistake.

Handling Stringers

If you're dating a man who has had one or more long-term relationships with other women and didn't marry them, there's a real possibility he's a stringer. A stringer is a man who strings women along. He likes having a woman, sleeping with a woman, eating with a woman, possibly sharing his life with a woman without ever making a real commitment. He often tells women, up front, he never intends to marry, so if and when he decides he wants to cut out, she has no reason to complain.

If you think you may be involved with a stringer, establish a deadline. If he doesn't commit to you within six months, get rid of him. Pay no attention to his excuses. He may tell you that you're coming on too strong. He may complain that the two of you haven't been going together long enough, that he doesn't know, that he hasn't made up his mind. In fact, he is likely to tell you anything that will get you to stick around without his needing to make a commitment. Don't fall for it. The chances a stringer will marry are very slim; he is simply not the marrying kind.

Earlier I mentioned those men who went with one woman for a time, then shortly thereafter went out and married another. This was the pattern, in fact, that initiated our research.

So we questioned the couples in which the man had gone with one woman for years and was marrying another. The women who married these men insisted they commit early in the relationship. If you meet a man who has had a long-term relationship, make it clear to him that if he dates you for a certain length of time, you'll expect a ring. If he doesn't understand that, you haven't done your job. Don't think his affirmative response to such a declaration is a precursor to his making a commitment. He's strung many women along, and he may try it with you. If after six months you don't have a firm commitment, leave.

We ran across at least fifty men we could identify as stringers. They can be very dangerous. I estimate each one is responsible for at least two women remaining single. They are destructive because they con women into wasting their time during the years when they are most attractive and most likely to get a proposal. They stay with women, live with women, promise them marriage, and string them on and on indefinitely.

There is one surefire way to identify these men-they are usually repeat offenders. If a man had even one long-term relationship with someone else, he's very likely to be a stringer. If he does not set a firm date, be on your guard.

Biological Clocks

We spoke to 121 men in their forties who were marrying for the first time. Their reason for marrying was different than that of the younger men we interviewed. Many of these older men were eager to marry because their biological clock was running. Obviously, a man's biological clock isn't the same as a woman's, but men are often in just as much of a hurry to have children. They're not worried about physically being able to father a child, but about being a father to the child. Men forty-two and older who were about to marry looked forward to having children, and they almost unanimously pictured themselves as fathers of sons. They want to be young enough when their sons come along to teach them all the things fathers traditionally teach their sons-to ride a bicycle, to fish, to play ball, and so forth. The most important reason these men had for marrying was that if they waited much longer, they wouldn't be able to be active fathers. So if you meet a man in his forties who tells you he's eager to have a son so he can do those male-bonding things, know that these things are very important to him, and they'll dramatically increase his readiness to marry.