Men quicker to say 'I love you', research shows

MEN are quicker to declare their love to their partner than women, according to a survey carried out for The Sunday Telegraph.
It is a cliché of romance - that men find it hardest to blurt out those three crucial words: “I love you”. But while men take an average of seven months to tell a new partner that they love them, women take almost eight months, according to the survey conducted for Stella magazine.
The study, which exposes several myths surrounding relationships, also found that the over 55s are the most active - and experimental - of all age groups, when it comes to dating.
Stella commissioned YouGov to interview almost 2,000 men and women of all ages and backgrounds who have been on a date in the past year.
Jenni Trent Hughes, a relationship counsellor, said the results contradicted many popular views on dating, as well as some of the stereotypes of the differences between the two sexes.
“Although women do tend to wear their heart on their sleeves more than men do, men are just as emotional and sensitive - sometimes even more so,” she added.
Oliver James, the clinical psychologist and author, said the findings supported other studies that showed that men fall in love more frequently than women. “This is because women mature sooner than men and develop to be more hard-nosed, realistic and in touch with their emotions,” he added.
“So when a man says ‘I love you’ it might be his way of dealing with a lot of complex, difficult emotions that he doesn’t really understand, whereas when a woman says it, it might carry a greater weight. The classic cliche is that men use love to get personal relation and women use relations to get love.”