Oct 31, 2013 03:53 PM EDT By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

Research published Wednesday found the frequency and tone of texts can have significant impacts on serious romantic relationships, Scientific World News reported.

Too frequent texting, both sending and receiving, was more damaging for men in relationships, the study found. Apologetic and serious, decision-making texts were least healthy for women in relationships. Affectionate texts were generally always a positive sign for two people in love.

"Technology is more important to relationship formation than it was previously," said Lori Schade, who earned her Ph.D. from BYU in August and co-led the study. "The way couples text is having an effect on the relationship as well."

Schade and fellow BYU researcher Jonathan Sandberg surveyed the partner-partner texting habits of 276 young adults around the country. Thirty-eight percent were in a serious relationship, 46 percent were engaged, and 16 percent were married.

Besides the major findings, the surveys showed that 82 percent of participants exchanged multiple texts with their partner each day. The subject of texts ranged broadly, with the overall purpose of "relationship maintenance," as the researchers termed it. Typically, ensuring both partners are in sync is a good thing, but texting can sometimes convolute that process. Certain words, phrases, or tone may be misinterpreted. If the other partner isn't there to immediately correct, the wrong feelings could linger.

"Reaction to disappointment and reality testing occurs more quickly face to face," Sandberg said. "There is a narrowness with texting and you don't get to see the breadth of a person that you need to see."

In the press release, researchers highlighted the tendency of men to suffer when both sending and receiving too many texts. 

"We're wondering if this means men disconnect and replace in-person conversations with more texting," Schade said. "Maybe as they exit the relationship, they text more frequently because that's a safer form of communication. We don't know why, that is just a conjecture." 

The release concludes with the overarching warning: ",,, you don't have something nice to text, better not text at all."

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