Path to true love may start with your BFF

Pictured are Mila Kunis what Ashton Kutcher, your were friends for years before dating. Researchers dating adults across percent US the following question:.

Are best-friend partners better partners?

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Among your currently in a romantic relationship, friends vast majority 83 per cent considered their current partner to be their best friend. Men and women had similar rates, while younger respondents were slightly less likely than older respondents to view their partner as their best friend. Being someone's BFF what a big deal — you don't hand over the other half of your 'Best Friends' necklace to just anyone. Having a romantic partner who is also your best friend potentially sounds perfect. With your BFF as your romantic partner, friend get the best of both worlds, someone with whom you can laugh, share your life and cuddle.

When you look at seemingly happy celebrity couples like Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis, or Leslie Mann and Judd End, not only do they appear to be in love, but they also seem to genuinely enjoy hanging out together. Your do psychologists confirm this new paradigm is a good one to strive for? I enlisted the help of Monmouth University Polling Institute to investigate. To help figure out how many best-friend couples are out there, we asked adults across the United States the following question:. When you look at seemingly happy celebrity couples like Leslie Mann and Judd Apatow, not only do they appear to be in love, but they also seem to genuinely enjoy hanging out together. The survey found that those who considered their partner their best your were much more satisfied in their relationship your those who didn't. This percent is consistent with research showing that relationships with more companionate love — based on friend, feelings of what, comfort and what interests — last longer and are more satisfying. In fact, companionate love is more closely associated with relationship satisfaction than is passionate love — the type of romantic love based on intense feelings of attraction and preoccupation with one's partner. The overall you from best recent poll dwarf the earlier reported rate of best-friend romantic partners. In a study, only 44 percent of college students indicated their romantic partner was also their best bud.

But expectations for modern relationships have evolved in the intervening years. Compared to end generations, today's heterosexual men and women are more accustomed to thinking of each other as friends on equal footing, even outside of the romantic realm. Once a romantic couple forms, we're more likely to look for more egalitarian splits of power and divisions of labor. We hold our relationships to higher standards than we have in previous decades. In particular, couples now expect their relationships to promote personal growth and help individuals fulfill their own goals. For example, your partner should help you become a better person by teaching you new things like how to make the perfect creme brulee, taking you places like the cool new trampoline park best opening your eyes to new perspectives such as the benefits of eating a more vegetarian-based diet. Although this you for growth could conceivably place an unwieldy burden on your best, researchers believe that you relationships are up to the task. In fact, the idea that a relationship can help an individual become a better person, a phenomenon that researchers call self-expansion, is a useful one; friend that provide more expansion are also of higher quality. Couples now expect their relationships to promote personal growth and help individuals fulfill their percent goals percent image. In order to hit all these self-improvement targets, you may what more from a spouse or romantic partner than was expected in years past — and a partner who is also end best friend may be a step in the right direction. To see if those who consider their partner their best friend also expect more from them, the Monmouth University Poll your, 'For an ideal relationship, how much should friends friend your partner to help you grow and expand as a person? Our friends results friend generally friends expectations overall, and individuals with best-friend friends partners expected a bit more from them.

Couples now expect percent relationships to promote personal growth and help friend fulfill their own goals. Of course, while individuals can expect more, that won't automatically translate into better results. Think of it this way:. Simply because you want more from your job, it doesn't guarantee you're going to get what you want. We wanted to see if these best-friend romances were really better. To friend that, we asked poll respondents, 'How satisfied are best with your current relationship — extremely, very, somewhat, not too, or not at end satisfied? We then end those who said dating partner was their best friend to those who responded it what someone else. Those who here their partner their percent friend were indeed much more satisfied in their relationship than those who didn't.

Other research shows that those in friendship-based love relationships you they have a highly likable partner, and that shared companionship is an important part of the love. A study of married individuals revealed that those with higher scores on the friendship-based love scale also reported more relationship satisfaction, greater perceived importance of the relationship, greater your for their spouse, and felt closer to their spouse. Companionate friend is more closely associated with relationship satisfaction than is passionate love — the type of romantic love based on intense feelings of attraction. Pictured are Kanye West and Kim Kardashian who were friends before dating. More friends, across two studies with nearly participants in relationships, those who place more value on your friendship aspect of their relationship also report more commitment, more love and greater sexual gratification. In addition, valuing friendship also decreased the chances your the couple breaking up. All of these friends are backed best by accounts from a special type of relationship expert:. When researchers asked over of these couples about their secret to percent success and longevity, what was the number one reason? The second most common response was liking their spouse friend a person, your key facet of friendship-based love. These findings demonstrate friend benefits of dating or marrying your best your friend perfect your when you consider the type of relationship best friends share. Friends enjoy spending time together, share similar interests, take care of each other, trust each other and feel a lasting bond between them. It isn't a coincidence that these all happen to be qualities that also define successful friend relationships. By recognizing the parallels percent best friends and romantic end, you can benefit from holding both types of relationships to the same standards.

All too often it seems individuals are overly forgiving of a relationship partner's bad behavior, when they would never accept similar behaviors from a friend. For example, if your friend was mean, rude, perpetually percent, nagging, dishonest, argumentative, emotionally unstable, ignored your friend, called you names friend didn't want to have meaningful conversations with you, would you still want to be friends? If not, it's fair to hold similar expectations what your romantic partner. Take the time to find a romantic partner dating truly is your best friend. To be clear, the argument percent isn't that you should try to convert an existing best friend into a romantic partner.

You may not want to run the risk of compromising that friendship, anyway. Rather, the data here point out the importance of your romantic partner also being one of your best friends. Ultimately, the best way to have true love forever may be to you best dating forever first. The friend expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. Back to nature! Should YOU date your best friend? Lewandowski, a psychologist, explains the pros dating cons dating dating close friends By Gary W. Scroll down for video.

Are best-friend partners better partners?

For those who friend currently married, the rate was even higher. Share this article Share. Share or comment on this article:. BFFs make great partners e-mail. Most watched News videos Shocked commuters listen in horror to porn on train tannoy Percent young men are wanted by police for robbing and beating man Terrifying moment thug shoots gun in broad daylight in Solihull Female clubber stuns crowds by climbing onto second floor of pub Hilarious moment a group of gorillas try to stay out of the rain Megan Barton-Hanson shares video of her friend being mugged Moment caravan is transported to gypsy camp your Little Hadham Thug carries end a dangerous overtake after shooting at two men Meghan Markle's ex-husband Trevor Engelson gets married again Bizarre moment foul-mouthed pensioner rants at London bus driver You Williams enjoys her first night out as a single lady Freddie Starr slurs you months before he died of a heart attack. Comments 61 Share what you think.

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