Men thinking they have "poor looks" is the main reason they believe they are single, a new study has revealed.
One man in the study concluded that he was not in a relationship "'cause I am ugly as f*** and have been cursed with awful genetics".
The research by the University of Nicosia in Cyprus came up with 43 reasons why men think they are still single after looking at more than 6,700 comments on the subject.
Being single is becoming increasingly common – in 2015 more than a third of adults in the UK identified as single, according to the Office for National Statistics.
After poor looks, next on the list was "low self-esteem/confidence".
One man said: "I have massive self-esteem issues, I think I'm worthless, and I don't do social things because I don't want to inflict my stupid, worthless presence on other people."
Third on the list was a lack of effort by men.
"I've never been really all that into actively seeking out a relationship. I've always believed relationships come and go on their own," one man said about his single status.
The top 10 reasons that men thought that they were still single were:
1. Poor looks
2. Low self-esteem/confidence
3. Low effort
4. Not interested in relationships
5. Poor flirting skills
6. Introverted
7. Recently broken up
8. Bad experiences from previous relationships
9. No women available
10. Overweight
Further down the list there was a wide range of reasons, including mental health issues and physical conditions or disabilities.
Some highlighted previous relationships or feelings of unrequited love.
More material issues like career, finances or simply not earning enough money were frequently raised by the men in the study.
"Money," said one. "I don't have a lot of it to treat a lady."
However, quite a few men said that they were simply happy being single and that they actually enjoyed having their own "freedom and privacy".
Menelaos Apostolou, lead researcher from the University of Nicosia, believes that changes in society and a lack of social skills are the main factors.
He said: "In the past, forced or arranged marriages meant that socially inept, unattractive men did not have to acquire social skills in order to find a long-term love interest.
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"Single modern men often lack flirting skills because in an ancestral pre-industrial context, the selection pressures on mechanisms which regulated mating effort and choosiness were weak.
"Such skills are needed today, because in post-industrial societies mate choice is not regulated or forced but people have to instead find mates on their own."
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