Results from a recent study that indicate people in urban areas spend one-half of their lives unmarried contradict traditional ideas and similar studies of marriage and relationships, an ISU professor said.

The results from a survey conducted by the University of Chicago showed people between the ages of 18 and 59 who live in urban areas remain single or dating for an average of 19 years after being married for about 18 years.

“Those facts surprise me, it contradicts other research,” said Ronald Werner-Wilson, director of the Marriage and Family Therapy Program and Clinic and associate professor of human development and family studies.

Chad Johnson, staff psychologist at the student counseling service, said there is a common concern about relationships and being single among ISU students.

Students in college often think they need to be married or in a relationship during and after college.

Johnson said it’s important to sort out reasons for wanting to be in a relationship and concerns about being in a relationship.

It’s natural for college students to be single, Johnson said.

“It’s a period of late adolescence when they are trying to figure themselves out,” he said.

Johnson said the University of Chicago survey is interesting. The typical age to marry is between the age of 26 and 27, so prior to that people are dating or single. Also, the divorce rate is fairly high, so single years may come after the relationship has failed or dissolved.

Bryan Higgins, senior in management, is single and said he sometimes he feels he might miss out on the dating life. Higgins said he thinks people rush into marriage.

“I think sometimes there isn’t enough value placed on [marriage]. It’s a less serious decision because everyone else is doing it,” he said.

Werner-Wilson said even if people don’t stay in one marriage, they usually will marry again. He said he is surprised by data that suggest people are single longer than they are married.

Research Werner-Wilson is familiar with suggests that, as a country, more than 95 percent of people in the United States end up getting married, and if it doesn’t last, they get married again.

Werner-Wilson said there are a variety of goals for relationships ,and some students may be looking for long-term committed relationships while others date casually and are not interested in long-term relationships.

Students, particularly undergraduates, are financially dependent on their parents and they don’t see themselves being supported financially in a relationship, he said.

Heather Noneman, junior in elementary education, said she has been single for quite sometime and is not avidly looking for a relationship.

Noneman said it’s hard to find a mate at college because classes are time-consuming and people might have to work to help pay for college expenses.

“I think some people get scared that they won’t find anyone better, so they rush into marriage to feel like they have someone,” she said.