Anonymous wrote:A lot of the time, yes. If I think of the people I've known over time, is it mostly the more attractive, successful and well adjusted that are married by 30? Absolutely. And if I think of my friends are are in the mid 30s and still not married, they quite literally were less desirable. For example, one girl who is now 35 thought she was going to marry my other friend. They dated for two years but eventually he just couldn't handle her type A personality and also had some slightly more physically attractive options. He's now married and she isn't. Another of my friends in their mid 30s is not married and he's really nice but a little bit awkward and not very attractive (maybe like a 5). Another friend had the same issue as friend #1 except she was actually dumped by my brother for another girl when she was hoping they'd be together forever. Brother is now married and she, at 36, is not. I can go on and on but there's no example out of maybe 100 people I keep in contact with where a "desirable person" has rationally chosen to remain unmarried into their 30s
Interesting. Your post made me think back to people I know and when they married. The ones who married younger fell into a few categories: those who fell passionately in love in high school or college, those who stared their jobs/careers right after high school, or the very wealthy. Those who married later tended to be those who moved away for college, those who travelled or partied a bunch before "settling down" and those pursuing careers that require singularly focused, time-consuming work in the early years. The ones who married later had relationships along the way, but they ended due to career related moves or career interference.