Why you may be avoiding love: nowadays, many young women are shunning serious relationships for a host of reasons. Cosmo investigates.(COSMO NEWS: Relationships)

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Back in high school, you might have assumed that by the time you reached your mid-20s, you'd have your foot firmly in a cool career and your eye already on a guy with hubby potential. But instead, you've found yourself actively avoiding meeting Mr. Right. If that mind shift applies to you, then you're in good company. These days, more and more young women are putting love and marriage on the back burner.

"To a large degree, this change reflects a healthy shift in priorities for women," says Los Angeles clinical psychologist Susan Axtell, PsyD. "Fewer 20something women are seeing their lives as empty when they don't have a long-term mate." And oftentimes, what's filling the void is their commitment to getting their profession off the ground. "Men have traditionally thought in that linear 'get my career sorted out first' philosophy, and now women are doing it too," says Axtell.

A less earnest explanation for the trend: Young women are enjoying playing the field. "It's become important to them to hook up with and meet a variety of men before committing to a serious relationship," says Patricia Covalt, PhD, author of What Smart Couples Know. "And such advents as ...