Male children who were abandoned by their mothers grow up. There is a dread that history will repeat itself. The closer they get in relationships, the closer the dread is. And as as this dread creeps up on them, they may start backpedaling out of the relationship, leaving their partner bewildered as to what happened. So what happened is, as they got closer, the fear kicked in. And since the mothers and the parents set the bar on how things will be, they felt that instead of getting closer and closer and more secure, that they were marching toward this abandonment. So to prevent catastrophe, they turn 180 degrees and abandon before they can be abandoned. Please work out your childhood wounds so that you don't visit upon the relationship. Take inventory of your partner's childhood wounds and make sure that they've worked on them so that you don't end up with somebody that's going to act out on you emotionally.