Commitment Phobia in Young Men and Women
Why Millennials Are Less Keen to Marry or Prefer to Marry Late
Most of our parents, grandparents, and great grandparents often have interesting yet sad tales to tell us about how some of them got married at a young age due to parental pressure or how some didn’t even have a choice to choose their partner. One might assume that the same pattern would carry on years later, but as it turns out, the current generation has absolutely no interest in traditional arranged marriages! Not just that, but our millennials are either less keen to marry, or they prefer marrying late.
According to a report released by the Pew Research Center, 25 percent of millennials are likely to never be married. From the looks of it, this is probably going to be the highest percentage in modern times. When it comes to new serious and lifelong relationships young men and women of today’s time also seem to have a mutual commitment phobia. If you are wondering why, well, there are hundreds of reasons why millennials displaying a great degree of caution and hesitation toward the idea of marriage and commitment in general.
The Need for Independence
Marriage often calls for some degree of dependence between two partners in a relationship, and this is another reason why millennials delay tying the knot. Young men and women today have this need for being independent not just finically but also emotionally and mentally. Since marriage is more like a partnership, individuals wish to become independent in all spheres of life before they are ready to commit to another person.
Career-Building
Gone are the days when young people would end up getting married right after completing their education. Today’s generation is highly driven, career-oriented, and ambitious, and the millennials today would rather focus on building their career than walking down the aisle.
The need for career-building also often results from this desire to be able to become financially stable and bring something solid to the table when tying the knot.
They Question the Idea of ‘Forever’
The fear of commitment among millennials isn’t because they don’t care about marriage; it has to do more with what all the idea of commitment requires from them.
These people are just more self-aware, and they seem to be questioning the idea of ‘forever’ on the basis of logic and rationality. Today’s generation has long been witnessing so many broken marriages and even public breakdowns and spectacles of seemingly perfect and stable celebrity marriages. This has further encouraged them to challenge the notion of a relationship or marriage lasting forever.
They Want to Ensure Compatibility with Their Partner
Compatibility in a relationship or between two people simply refers to the fact that both of them understand each other and have a clear understanding of each other’s goals and philosophy in life.
For a lot of people, it isn’t exactly commitment phobia, but it is more about the need to ensure compatibility between them and their partner. Before tying the knot or making things official. After all, when two different people are together, there are likely to be differences in opinions, beliefs, ideas, and whatnot. A compatible relationship is the one in which both partners can find a middle ground and meet each other halfway amid all these differences.
Marriage is a huge step that requires a lot of thought before one takes a step ahead in their relationship.
There are so many reasons why millennials are less keen to marry, prefer marrying late, or fear committing to another person forever. These reasons could either be due to what they see on social media, what they’ve witnessed in their lives, or because of their own personal opinions about the institution of marriage and the whole notion of commitment.