By Christina Huffington
A close romantic relationship is generally believed to be better than a distant one. According to a new study, “Closeness Discrepancies in Romantic Relationships,” however, the degree of closeness in a relationship does not necessarily translate into how happy a person is, both in the relationship and generally.
The study — published online in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin in February 2013 — found that satisfaction with a relationship is not determined by how close a person is to their partner but rather by how much that level of closeness corresponds to their desired level of closeness. In other words, someone can be very satisfied with a relatively disconnected relationship as long as they aren’t seeking a greater connection.
