Debunking the Myth of the Slippery Bachelor

A new study suggests that men aren't afraid of commitment, and are more likely than women to want children

Photograph by Jesse Burke for TIME

As Valentine's Day approaches and married people take a moment to express their boundless and eternal love for their spouse by buying chocolates made in faraway China a romantically long time ago, they tend to take pity on single folk. They imagine a vast tribe of female lonely hearts roaming an emotional Sahara, confounded by mirages that look like marriage-minded men. But according to what may be the biggest study of single people ever, that image is, like the enthusiasm for the chocolate, quite false.

Single men are, on the whole, as likely to want to get married...

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