Career, education and travel goals tend to take a backseat to romantic relationships more for men than women, according to a new study.

The findings contradict earlier research that suggested women are more likely to abandon achievement goals in pursuit of love, says lead researcher Catherine Mosher, a health psychology intern at Duke University Medical Center in the study to be published in the upcoming issue of Gender Issues.

'Men in this predominantly heterosexual sample may have been more willing than women to sacrifice some goals for an emotionally intimate partnership.'— Catherine Mosher, researcher

Researchers surveyed 237 undergraduate students in the U.S. between the ages of 16 and 25. Participants were asked about their fitness, travel, financial, home ownership, career and education goals in addition to their romantic, marriage and family aspirations.

The study found that a greater proportion of men prioritized romance over achievement goals.

"Approximately half [51.0 per cent] of the women and over half of the men [61.3 per cent] chose the romantic relationship rather than the achievement goal for the majority of the items," the study says.

Mosher said there may be several factors that play into men's priorities, citing recent studies that suggest more women than men cite academic and professional goals as their prime motivation for enrolling in college.

"The college women in this study may have been highly committed to preparation for career success and hesitant to abandon their goals for a romantic relationship," the study says.

Men seek emotional support

However, the study also notes that men's same-sex friendships tend to be less intimate than women's, a characteristic that could cause them to seek greater emotional support from their girlfriends.

"Men tend to fall in love more rapidly than do women, as reflected in their higher scores on measures of romanticism [e.g., love at first sight]," the study says.

"Thus, men in this predominantly heterosexual sample may have been more willing than women to sacrifice some goals for an emotionally intimate partnership."