Married Americans overwhelmingly believe they married the right person but not all of them believe in the idea of soul mates.

A Marist poll showed that 97 percent of men and 94 percent of women are convinced they found the one, a finding which surprised researchers because of the country's high divorce rate.

"There are clearly people who think things are going very well, but it may not turn out that way," said Lee M. Miringoff, director of the Marist College Poll.

About one third of marriages in the United States end in divorce before the 10th anniversary, according to national data from the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.

Ninety seven percent of people in the Midwest and western regions of the country were confident they chose the right person, followed by 96 percent in the south and 90 percent in the northeast.

One hundred percent of people aged 18 to 29 said they married the right person.

Although most people think they made the right choice, only 66 percent of those who are married said they believed in soul mates, the idea that two people are destined to be together.

Young adults 29 years old or younger, people in households earning less than $50,000, and those living in the south were most likely to believe in the concept.

"Although two thirds buy into the notion of destiny, a third does not. The idyllic view of marriage doesn't hold for everyone," Miringoff said.

The findings are based on a telephone survey of 1,004 adults, including 530 people who were married.

(Read by Renee Haines. Renee Haines is a journalist at the China Daily Web site.)

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(Agencies)