求愛過程越長 感情質量越高

Couples who get to know each other before being intimate have a better chance of having a lasting relationship, but in some cases even a casual fling can lead to true love, according to a new research.

Most of the 56 percent of 642 adults questioned in the study who said they had waited until they got serious before they had sex reported having a high quality relationship.

The number was higher than for the 27 percent of people who had sex while dating casually and the 17 percent who were intimate while in a non-romantic relationship.

"There's something about the characteristics of people who wait before sex that is linked to higher-quality relationships," said sociology professor Anthony Paik of the University of Iowa.

Paik, who reported the findings in the journal Social Science Research, said the research suggests that the courtship process acts as a screening mechanism.

"The debate is 'why can't we have sex now?' The expectation is that sex should occur very quickly. But doing so, you're losing out on some information that might be useful," he explained in an interview.

It's almost an economic equation, he added.

"On average, the more costly the process leading into the relationship, the more likely it is to work. That's what the data would suggest."

But Paik said the findings did not show that an early sexual relationship had a direct negative impact on relationships.

When he filtered out people who said they had frequent non-romantic or casual dating sexual relationships he found that the gap in relationship quality between serious and nonserious contexts of sexual activity disappeared.

"It means it's possible for two strangers to lock eyes in a bar, and go home together, and actually end up in a long-term relationship," Paik said.

一項最新調查表明，在確定親密關係之前彼此互相瞭解的情侶感情更有可能長久，但在某些情況下，一夜情也能帶來真愛。

在接受調查的642名成年人中，56%的人稱他們在兩人確立戀愛關係後才發生性關係，這其中的大部分人稱自己的感情質量較高。

另外有27%的人稱他們在約會期間就隨意發生了性關係，17%的人在發生關係時與對方還不是戀人關係，在這兩種情況下，報告感情質量高的人的比例都不如前者高。

艾奧瓦大學的社會學教授安東尼•帕伊克說：“在發生性關係前耐心等待的人有一些特點，這些特點與高質量的戀愛關係有關。”

這一在《社會科學研究》期刊上發表的研究結果稱，該研究表明求愛的過程發揮了篩選機制的作用。

他在一個採訪中解釋說：“問題的焦點是‘爲什麼我們現在不能做愛？’。人們期望性行爲會很快發生。但如果這麼做，你就失去了一些可能有用的信息。”

他說，這相當於一個經濟學方程式。

“一般來說，確立戀愛關係的成本越高，其運轉良好的可能性越大。這是調查數據告訴我們的。”

但帕伊克稱，調查結果並沒有顯示過早發生性行爲對感情有直接的負面影響。

帕伊克將在非戀愛關係時頻繁發生性關係和和隨意約會期間發生性關係的人單拿出來進行分析後發現，無論是在認真還是不認真的關係狀況下發生性關係，這兩種情況下的感情質量沒有太大差別。

帕伊克說：“這意味着，兩個陌生人在酒吧相遇，相互吸引，然後一起回家，最終成眷屬的可能性還是存在的。”

Vocabulary:

fling: a short sexual relationship with somebody（短暫的風流韻事）

lose out on sth.: 得不到（需要或覺得應有的東西）