There is an opinion that, unlike women, men are not inclined to express their feelings. A study on three continents has shown that this is not the case: scientists from several countries at once say that it is mostly men who say the phrase “I love you” first.
The expression of feelings and affection between partners is very important. It enhances mutual commitment and leads to healthier, more stable, long-term romantic relationships. But despite all the benefits of expressing feelings, many people feel nervous when they say the phrase “I love you” to a person for the first time.
The topic of «primacy» of declarations of love began to be considered in the United States. conducted only among the inhabitants of America and showed that men confess their love before women. Thanks to scientists from the UK, Chile, Colombia, Poland, Brazil and Australia now know that the pattern of earlier expression of feelings by men is observed outside the United States.
The study involved 1428 people from seven different countries on three different continents. Respondents were asked to answer demographic questions, as well as questions about types of attachment and declarations of love. Among other things, scientists asked to tell how the participants said «I love you» in a previous or current relationship.
It turned out that in 6 out of 7 countries surveyed, men say the phrase «I love you» first in a relationship
Significant differences by gender were not found only in France. Remarkably, women reported men’s first confessions more often than men themselves, which may be due to a memory error, as discussed in a previous study in America.
The results also show that men are more likely to say «I love you» first if they live in a country where the population is dominated by women. Another conclusion of the study states that partners with an avoidant type of attachment are less happy to hear declarations of love, and with an anxious type of attachment, on the contrary, they experience a greater level of happiness in this situation.
Although the study confirms that the male first confession trend is common in many countries, the authors did not look at the situation in Asia and Africa. This fact does not allow us to speak about the universality of the obtained conclusions. In the future, research may focus on examining patterns of declarations of love among a wider range of countries, including distant societies.
Text: Lilia Bolotnikova