All of my siblings struggle romantically

Question

Is this tied to CPTSD?

Pretty much all of my siblings (including myself) struggle with relationships and love.

My oldest brother is 29 and still a virgin who’s only been on two dates (he still has a very juvenile mindset with women where acts like they all have cooties and he also has the most petty dealbreakers [caricature of “elbows too pointy”]).

My other brother (27M) doesn’t struggle getting into relationships but he’s very abusive to his partners, is a full blown misogynist and has never been happy in a relationship after he had a bad breakup in high school.

My sister (20F) is also a virgin and doesn’t really seem interested in dating at all.

I (24M) am also a virgin. I grew up with crippling low self-esteem and I never bothered asking anybody out in my life until very recently (as in I just got on Hinge about three weeks ago). I’m also joining hobby groups that are thankfully unisex.

Is it a coincidence that all the kids in my family are struggling romantically or is there something deeper? It just hit me that it is strange that I’ve never felt like putting myself out there until quite recently (it took a holiday-induced existential crisis to snap me into it). My parents mostly had a stable relationship but they had other struggles when we were growing up.

For example, my dad’s alcoholism almost tore the family apart, my parents would frequently get into loud arguments, we struggled with poverty, they beat us, and they were neglectful in every way except material (even came up short in that department at times).

What could be the explanation?

Posted Mar 5, 2026, 4:14 AM UTC

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