Hostname: page-component-f554764f5-8cg97 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-22T12:40:01.153Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français
Accepted manuscript

Romantic Relationships Matter More to Men than to Women

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 December 2024

Iris V. Wahring Open the ORCID record for Iris V. Wahring [Opens in a new window] ,
Jeffry A. Simpson Open the ORCID record for Jeffry A. Simpson [Opens in a new window]  and
Paul A. M. Van Lange Open the ORCID record for Paul A. M. Van Lange [Opens in a new window]
Iris V. Wahring*
Affiliation:
Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany; [email protected]
Jeffry A. Simpson
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, United States; [email protected], https://cla.umn.edu/about/directory/profile/simps108
Paul A. M. Van Lange
Affiliation:
Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, VU Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands, and University of Cologne, Germany; [email protected], www.paulvanlange.com
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Iris Wahring, Humboldt University Berlin, Department of Psychology, Unter den Linden 6, 10099 Berlin, Germany; phone: +49-(0)30-2093- 4917
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Women are often viewed as more romantic than men, and romantic relationships are assumed to be more central to the lives of women than to those of men. Despite the prevalence of these beliefs, some recent research paints a different picture. Using principles and insights based on the interdisciplinary literature on mixed-gender relationships, we advance a set of four propositions relevant to differences between men and women and their romantic relationships. We propose that relative to women: (a) men expect to obtain greater benefits from relationship formation and thus strive more strongly for a romantic partner, (b) men benefit more from romantic relationship involvement in terms of their mental and physical health, (c) men are less likely to initiate breakups, and (d) men suffer more from relationship dissolution. We offer theoretical explanations based on differences between men and women in the availability of social networks that provide intimacy and emotional support. We discuss implications for friendships in general and friendships between men and women in particular.

Keywords

breakupemotional supportgenderhealthromantic relationships
Type
Target Article
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Accepted manuscript , pp. 1 - 64
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Footnotes

†

Iris V. Wahring and Paul A. M. van Lange contributed equally to this article.