Men prefer relationships to career

In spite of the common belief men are more oriented towards personal relationships than women, a new study says.

Scientists from Duke Medical Center and the University of Albany studied the influence of personal traits on the life objectives and analyzed how significant are personal relationships and life achievements among undergraduate students. As much as 237 volunteers ages 16 to 25 took part in a study to explore such personal traits as focus on oneself and focus on others in men and women. Men were found to have higher scores on self-focus while women were inclined to be more focused on others.

Catherine Mosher and Sharon Danoff-Burg, scientists that conducted a study also examined the priority of life goals. All life goals were divided into two groups: achievement goals (like career, education, physical fitness, financial achievements) and relationship goals (like friendship, romance, marriage, children). Most participants said that personal achievement and relationships were important to them.

But when researchers asked to choose between relationships and career, men were surprisingly more willing to give priority to relationships.

In this study, women are more career-oriented while men showed more desire to preserve relationships even if they had to sacrifice career. They also said that relationships with significant other gave them more comfort than friendship.