THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ROMANTIC LOVE FOR MARRIAGE

In this study, 605 subjects were asked about romantic love and marriag e. Married people differentiated themselves from single people with st able partners and divorced people with new partners by more frequently living together with their great love, more reciprocity in that love, and less disappointments in love relationships prior to the current r elationship; but they also described themselves as less happy and sati sfied than the single and divorced respondents, particularly with rega rd to tenderness, ses and conversation with their partners. Independen t of marital status, those who were greatly in, love with their partne rs describe themselves as happier. Love at first sight, relative to a gradually developing Love, nevertheless, did not have a worse prognosi s for happiness in marriage. Being in love seems to be of greater impo rtance for the prognosis of the marriage than marital happiness and sa tisfaction.