Men are more romantic than women, new study finds

This may come as a shock to some but new research has revealed a surprising fact about romantic relationships.

Romcoms and romance books may have led us to believe that romance is more important to women.

But according to new research, this is not the case.

Watch the video above.

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"Research [is] showing that men were more likely to yearn after a partner, and were usually the ones to fall in love fast and more often," Jayne Azzopardi said this morning on Today.

But men aren't just more likely to pine for a significant other but are also likely to experience better outcomes from being in a romantic relationship than their female counterparts.

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Azzopardi added that "men also benefitted from a relationship more than women do with better mental health and higher life expectancy".

"I mean all of that seems true to me," quipped Today's Sarah Abo.

The same study also found that relationship break ups are harder for men than women.

The results have been published in a paper called Romantic Relationships Matter More to Men than to Women authored by Iris V Wahring, Jeffry A Simpson, and Paul AM Van Lange, which studied gender differences in heterosexual relationships.

The authors sought to analyse traditional beliefs about romantic relationships, including that women are emotionally dependent on their partners and men are emotionally reserved.

According to the study, men tend to rely on their romantic partners for emotional support and intimacy more than women do.

Where men often place a bigger focus on their romantic relationships, women tend to maintain a broader network of support which includes their romantic partner but also includes family and friends.

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This leaves men more dependent on their relationships for emotional and psychological support, meaning that if and when they end, the loss can feel more significant.

This bigger focus on romantic relationship means that men are also generally more motivated to find a partner than women, with the study finding they are more likely to believe in the concept of "love at first sight" and fall in love at a higher rate.

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While fairytales and romcoms often tend to put the emphasis on women falling in love hard and fast, this new study suggests that it's actually the other way around and brings many gender norms to light.

The study concludes that cultural narratives around gender and relationships should be challenge.

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