研究：網絡情緣帶來的婚姻更幸福

美國芝加哥大學的研究人員發現，與傳統相識方式相比，通過網絡結識的情侶結婚後婚姻更幸福也更長久。這背後的原因可能是，上網找另一半時動力更足以及相親網站在配對時更精細。研究人員對2萬名在2005年到2012年間結婚的人士調查後發現，通過網絡結識另一半的佔三分之一，且對婚姻滿意度較高；而在酒吧或通過相親認識另一半的人，其婚姻破裂的機率要比網絡情緣產生的婚姻高25%，他們對婚姻的滿意度也最低。此前已有研究顯示，通過網絡相識的情侶在第一次見面後再次約見的機率很高，因爲他們已經在網上互通了不少個人信息。另外，雖然網絡相親者有時也說些謊話，不過都是有關身高、體重的善意謊言。

It may not be the most romantic way to meet the love of your life – but it could be the best way to ensure they really are for life.

Finding Mr or Mrs Right online is more likely to lead to a happier and longer marriage than getting together through more traditional means, a study has found.

A relationship started in cyberspace is 25 percent less likely to end in divorce or separation than those that began through friends or chance.

The success could be down to a higher motivation to find love among internet daters and the efforts that websites put in to match partners, say researchers.

Chicago University psychologists studied almost 20,000 people who had married between 2005 and 2012 and asked them a series of questions about their happiness.

Just over a third had met their spouse online, with around half of these using internet dating and the rest via chat rooms and social networking sites.

Those who were still married were happier if they had met online.

However, relationships that began through work, in a bar or club or on a blind date were 25 percent more likely to end – and those couples were among the least satisfied, the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports.

Professor John Cacioppo, who led the study, said the sheer number of available potential partners online could be among the reasons for the results.

Previous research has shown that online daters are more likely to see each other again after a first meeting because they share more information about themselves online.

And while the relative anonymity of online dating does allow for prospective partners to lie about their attributes, studies suggest this mostly takes the form of white lies about weight and height.

The findings of the US study, commissioned by matchmaking company eHarmony, could also apply elsewhere, said Prof Cacioppo.

Britons are Europe’s most prolific internet daters.

More than 5.7million people in the UK logged on to internet dating sites in September 2012 – a 22 percent increase on the same month a year earlier, according to internet market research company comScore.

The websites were most popular among the 25 to 34 age group, but they are becoming increasingly attractive to the older generation.