London - It is said they think about sex every seven seconds.
But it seems what men really want is a cuddle.
A survey of couples from across the globe has found that hugs and kisses are crucial to a man’s happiness, while women are the ones more interested in sex.
Experts at the Kinsey Institute found that men who frequently kissed and cuddled their wives and girlfriends were three times as satisfied as those who spent less time snuggling.
However, women - who are commonly assumed to be more tactile - said that such shows of affection had very little impact on their happiness.
The team from Indiana University in the U.S. interviewed more than 1,000 pairs of partners from Germany, Spain, Japan, Brazil and America who had been together for an average of 25 years.
The participants, aged between 40 and 70, were asked how many times in the past month they had kissed, cuddled, caressed and made love with their partner, and how satisfied they were with their relationships and sex lives.
Lead researcher Julia Heiman admitted the findings came as a surprise. “We became interested in relationships that endure and how might we begin to understand them,” she said.
“Cuddles were more important to men in predicting the degree of happiness. The really useful message is we should not make presumptions about the genders.”
Both men and women reported that their sex lives improved the longer their relationships went on.
In the first 15 years of a relationship, women were significantly less sexually satisfied than men - but once that milestone has been passed, their satisfaction level was 20 per cent higher than at the start. Dr Heiman suggested those first 15 years may be too emotionally draining for women, as they are often spent bringing up children. Then, as they get older, they have fewer pressures - and their sex lives blossom.
“It’s possible that women became more sexually satisfied over time because their expectations change, or life changes when their children grow up,” Dr Heiman said. “The period of less satisfaction seems to overlap with the period of raising children, during which other things really take a focus.”
When it came to men’s sex lives, another common stereotype was undermined by the data - that of selfishness. The study, published this week in the journal Archives of Sexual Behaviour, found that men were happy so long as their partner enjoyed sex, and, in particular, had orgasms.
Reuters’ report on the study said Japanese men and women were significantly happier in their relationships than Americans, who were more content than Brazilians and Spaniards.
Japanese men in particular were more than twice as sexually satisfied in their relationships than other nationalities.
“I honestly don't know why this is,” Heiman said in an interview. “Japanese couples may interpret the survey questions slightly different. Maybe Americans interpret this in a much more critical way.”
Japanese and Brazilian women were also more likely than American women to be happy with their sex lives.
“Americans are pretty notoriously not satisfied with things,” Heiman said. “The United States is certainly not the happiest country when it comes to comparing it to others.”
Heiman said that the data may reflect the dynamics of a long-term relationship.
“Maybe it's about durability. A major factor is how long you've been together. What you value as important may mean a lot more after the near-term.” - Daily Mail