Men beat women in race to say those three little words

FORGET the stereotype of the manly commitment-phobe. A new study finds that not only do men often say “I love you” first in relationships, they’re often happier than women when they hear the three little words said to them.

The bigger happiness boost comes when a woman confesses her love prior to the couple having sex, researchers reported in June in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

From an evolutionary perspective in which men value the opportunity to reproduce and women value commitment to raise offspring, the findings make sense, the researchers wrote. Men may prefer a pre-sex confession because it comes with the promise of getting some action in the near future. Women, on the other hand, would prefer the post-sex confession because it means the sex comes with a commitment.