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"   According to a new joint study about relationships, most people are open about living together and having sex before marriage. (We could have told them that.) But, we were wowed by this nugget: Both men and women say that, above anyone else, their mothers are still the biggest influence over who they marry. Personally, I don&amp;#039;t find this at all surprising. Probably because I could never see myself marrying a guy who didn&amp;#039;t have my mom&amp;#039;s approval.  Here&amp;#039;s the thing: I&amp;#039;m an only child and I&amp;#039;m super close with my mom. She&amp;#039;s been my confidant and my sounding board for all situations on my life, romantic and otherwise. And, I hate to admit it, but she was dead right about how wrong for me my ex-boyfriend was. (Unfortunately for yours truly, it took me four years to see what the heck she was talking about.) So, I learned the hard way to take my mom&amp;#039;s advice when it comes to dating. And, when I started seeing my current guy, I tripled-checked to make sure she approved. (Luckily for me\u2014and him\u2014she totally does.)  But, just because my mom&amp;#039;s opinion matters to me, that doesn&amp;#039;t mean it&amp;#039;s the case for everyone. What about you guys\u2014does a guy need your mom&amp;#039;s approval to win you over? Want more from Natasha? Follow her on Twitter or find her on Facebook. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/news/a11530/most-people-want-moms-approval-when-dating/>