Men are more likely to say “I love you” first in their relationships, and they also believe these three words should be spoken earlier in a relationship than women, according to a new study.
When researchers looked at the data, they found men dropped the “L” word first in 70% of the relationships they examined, which clashed with respondent expectations.
And 62% of respondents originally believed women were more likely to say those three little words first.
“The average man believes a couple should
start saying “I love you” after three months.”
Furthermore, researchers found the average man believes a couple should start saying “I love you” after just three months together, while the average woman feels five months is a more appropriate timeline for declarations of love.
The gender dynamics of saying “I love you” become more complicated when you toss sex, or a lack of sex, into the equation.
Men feel better about their relationships if their woman expresses love before they have sex, while women prefer hearing “I love you” after they’ve already had sex with a man.
A lack of sex in a relationship also seems to accelerate romantic pronouncements, as men noted saying “I love you” within one month of a relationship if the couple hadn’t had sex yet.
Source: eharmony.com.
