United States: A recent study found that women experience a more significant decline in their feelings of love over time than men.
According to the research, one explanation for this is that women are more infatuated than men are when they first start dating, which gives the female more motivation to end a relationship.
Dr. Saurabh Bhargava, an economics professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, tracked the feelings of almost 3,900 heterosexual adults throughout their relationships, spanning from being recently engaged to being married for many years.
For ten days, participants were asked to note who they were with and how they were feeling every thirty minutes. After that, they were asked to complete a longer questionnaire about the nature and purpose of their love.
The study found that, early in a relationship, women are much more likely than men to report having brief, fleeting moments of love. Compared to women in more recent relationships, those in longer relationships felt love almost 60 percent fewer times when spending time with their partner. In contrast, men’s sentiments of love only declined by 0.4 percent over time.
Over time, the percentage of women who experienced “excited love” with their partners decreased by nearly 80 percent, whereas the decline for men was significantly smaller at 30 percent.
The study showed that while men spend more time lounging and napping, women spend more time cooking and taking care of the house as they get to know each other.