Männer, die in eine romantische Beziehung eintraten und in einer romantischen Beziehung blieben, berichteten über einen größeren Anstieg der Lebenszufriedenheit und der Zufriedenheit des Beziehungsstatus als Frauen, die dasselbe taten.

I’ve linked to the news release in the post above. In this comment, for those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article:

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/19485506251371351

From the linked article:

Researchers studied the shift from singlehood to dating. Three key areas stood out.

A new study published in Social Psychological and Personality Science suggests that entering and maintaining a romantic relationship can lead to modest improvements in overall well-being, especially in areas directly tied to having a partner. The study found that while life satisfaction increased slightly, improvements were more pronounced in areas such as sexual satisfaction, loneliness, and how happy people felt about their relationship status. **These effects were strongest among men** and among people who had a strong desire to be in a relationship.

Three outcomes stood out. The researchers found that participants who entered a relationship and stayed in it reported higher well-being at the follow-up compared to those who stayed single. The biggest gains were seen in areas closely tied to being in a relationship. Sexual satisfaction increased substantially, and people were also much more satisfied with their relationship status. Loneliness also dropped significantly. While the direction of the effects was expected, their magnitude was surprising.

Those who started a relationship and then broke up did not report the same benefits. Their well-being remained largely unchanged compared to those who stayed single, with only a small uptick in sexual satisfaction. In some cases, their satisfaction with relationship status actually dropped.

Participants who stayed single throughout the study reported little change in any well-being category, with some showing very small declines in sexual satisfaction and relationship status satisfaction. This suggests that, for many people, staying single is a stable state that does not dramatically change their well-being over short periods of time.

The effects of entering a romantic relationship were not the same for everyone. **Men who entered and stayed in a relationship reported larger increases in life satisfaction and relationship status satisfaction than women who did the same.**