Regular churchgoers and married people are most satisfied with their love life, according to a recent study.
While looking at the influences on "love life satisfaction" throughout one's adult life," researchers from the Universidade do Porto in Portugal found that those who enjoy harmonious social ties, are currently in love or who experience the commitment and sexual desire of their partners tend to be more satisfied with their love life.
In the study, love is associated with the desire to enter into, maintain, or expand a close, connected, and ongoing relationship with another person.
"In contrast to much past investigation on love, our research used a sample of adults representing a full range of age. Focusing on exploration of age variations in satisfaction with love life, the research displayed a comprehensive view of differences and similarities across the adult life span," researchers said.
For the study, researchers recruited more than 1,200 Portuguese women and men between the ages of 18 and 90 years old. Study participants were asked to evaluate and weigh specific facets of their own love lives by using the Satisfaction With Love Life Scale.
Researchers found that a combination of factors such as age, marital status and love style (e.g. manipulative or playful), influence a person's love satisfaction.
They also found that while education does not impact a person's love life satisfaction, religious involvement does. The finding that believers and regular churchgoers are positive about their love lives is in line with previous studies that associate religious involvement with better mental health and greater satisfaction with life and sexual relationships in general.
Based on the results, people who enjoy higher levels of well-being and have harmonious social relationships also tend to be more content with their love lives. The same is true for people who are currently in love, in contrast to those who are not in a romantic relationship.
The findings were recently published in an articles in Springer's journal Applied Research in Quality of Life.
