Survey Reveals The #1 Quality Women Look For In A Man Worth Marrying
The trait woman want must when it comes to men who are marriage material.
bernardbodo | Canva A survey of mental health professionals from YourTango dispels several long-held myths and reveals what makes a man worth marrying. For starters, is it true that you can tell everything you need to know about how a man will treat you by looking at his relationship with his mother?
"Not even close," said 65 percent of respondents. However, YourTango Expert Jennifer Elizabeth Masters disagrees, explaining, "If a man is disrespectful of his mother, he will disrespect you. If he does not get along with his mother, he is a bad risk."
If you think a man who has never been married by age 40 likely has a deep-seated fear of commitment or some other undesirable issue to resolve, you're in the minority; fifty-five percent of experts disagree with this assumption.
"He may just be very independent," says YourTango Expert Sheila Paxton, "or very discerning." And neither one of those traits is something to be concerned about.
Meanwhile, the vast majority of women agree that the number one quality that makes a man worth marrying is his ability to communicate, followed closely by honesty and reliability.
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When it comes to finding a husband, experts say the following three qualities matter least to their clients: a man's height, his religion/ethnicity, and then his job.
So, cheer up, diminutive dudes; as it turns out, ladies love short men just as much as their taller counterparts. Another study that was published in Men's Health shows that ladies don't care about height.
More than 96 percent of respondents agree that great husbands are made, not born, so it's never too late for a guy to live up to his potential. Whether divorced men make good husbands, the verdict is out: half of the experts say they do; the other half say they don't.
However, a whopping 89 percent of experts believe that addictions to drugs, alcohol, gambling, and/or intimacy disqualify men from being husband material, so marriage-minded women should avoid guys with substance abuse issues. Why? One expert explains, "Anyone actively practicing an addiction is more loyal to the addiction than to any other relationship."
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The most overlooked husband trait that women tend to take for granted is kindness.
"Unfortunately, the number one husband-worthy trait that most women overlook is kindness. Not great news for all the nice guys out there!" states YourTango CEO Andrea Miller. Additional survey findings include:
- Don't discount dads. Fifty-eight percent of experts agree that single fathers make great husbands. One poll that was published in PR Newswire shows that 60% of women are open to dating single dads.
- Say "no" to Mama's boys. Eighty-eight percent say that "mama's boys" are not husband material.
- Bad boys can grow into great men. Eighty-five percent agree that a man with a checkered past can evolve into a great, lifelong partner over time.
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