Men are more likely than women to marry someone they feel is not quite right for them, debunking the myth that women will do anything for a ring - and that men, on the other hand, will do anything to shun commitment.

The recent Singles in America survey by Match.com - which also drew attention to the sexual differences between political persuasions - delivered the surprising results.

Of the survey's 5,000 respondents, 31 percent of men, compared to 23 percent of women, admitted they would consider marrying someone who 'has everything they are looking for in a partner' but with whom they weren't in love.

21 percent of men went even further, confessing that they would commit to someone they weren't sexually attracted to.

Contrary to what popular culture suggests - which lady hasn't sympathised with Bridget Jones, or laughed at 27 Dresses? - men, young men in particular, are only too happy to settle.

Whether it is a resignation to believing there may never be 'the one' or a case of domestic pragmatism, men are willing to commit and live a life with a woman they feel is not 100 percent ideal.

Counter-intuitively, the urge to marry was even stronger for men in their twenties than for those in their thirties and rose again for men in their forties.

The apparent resignation among men to marry for the sake of marrying - and the company, support and security it offers - rather than for love and true attraction does not come as news to some men.

Tom Fant, a healthcare consultant in New York, told the Daily Beast: 'The idea of being alone in life can be so overwhelming. Soul crushing for some.

'Men certainly aren't immune to it, even if most of us like to pretend that we are too strong to be scared, lonely, or, even worse, insecure.'

(Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

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(Agencies)