We all know the reasons why (because men are pigs who just want to get laid, says someone's wife when she read this). Anyway, A team of researchers in Australia and New Zealand dug into survey data from 808 adults. The participants were aged between 18 and 25, and all described themselves as currently being in love.
"The study spans across 33 different countries in Europe, North America, and South Africa," says biological anthropologist Adam Bode, from Australian National University. "We're most interested in whether biological sex influences the occurrence, progression, and expression of romantic love."
After some statistical processing, the data showed that the men tended to fall in love about a month ahead of the women on average – possibly because the onus is on men to show commitment to attract a partner, the researchers suggest.
Men fall in love slightly more often than women do, according to the study, but are a little less 'committed'. The women tended to spend more time obsessively thinking about their partner, and were slightly more romantically intense in their love.
Men were also more likely to fall in love before the relationship had become 'official', with 30 percent of the male study participants reporting this timing compared to less than 20 percent of the women.
Why does most of that sound familiar to me? I guess it's because I must be (or musta usta be) one of those so-called 'pigs'.
Your guess is as good as mine. Juss' sayin'...
Biological sex? Or gender roles within the dominant culture? Were the 808 people all from the same country or culture? Or did they include people from, say the Philippines along with those from Western culture? In order to determine what is actually based on biological sex versus societal values that were instilled into the test subjects.
ReplyDeletePseudoscience with pseudoscientists attempting to measure and quantify something that can't be measured or quantified.
ReplyDeleteWomen want that "independence" that lets them do what they want while the other partner in the relationship pays for it, supports them, and provides that stable safety net. Where the legal system favors them in cases of divorce and infidelity.
ReplyDeleteMen want the true benefits of a married partnership, where they actually get the promised benefits of the commitment. Family, children, intimacy. Things that they think they'll get from being married, but often do not.