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He will probably say “I love you” first–and maybe sooner than you think! | Source: ShutterStock
One of the most stressful, yet exciting parts of a new relationship as it gets serious is when to say “I love you.” It’s sort of simultaneously horrifying yet relieving once it’s over–and chances are, the guy is going to say “I love you” first. There’s research to prove it!
Studies show that guys, on average, take 88 days to say “I love you” first. Us girls? We move a lot slower. If we’re the first to say “I love you,” it won’t happen for 134 days. Maybe we want to be really, really sure we mean it–and that he won’t think we’re clingers!
The study also notes that guys are a lot more likely to say “I love you” within the first month of meeting someone than we are–39 percent of dudes will do it compared to 23 percent of us.
Even though guys may fall in love quickly, it doesn’t mean that they’re out to physically move so fast. In fact, younger dudes in the study said they were the slowest to hold hands and have a first kiss. Aww! They were also the most likely to commit the soonest–think like, within a week. A week!
The gist of all this? Guys have feelings too. And they seem to reach them before we do. But just because guys take 88 days on average to say “I love you” doesn’t mean you need a stopwatch and a calendar to keep track of their behavior. Every person is different, so every relationship will be different. It may take your dude 88 seconds to realize you’re perfect and wondrous, or it may take 88 hours, 88 months–you get the idea.
Just make sure you’re moving at a pace that feels right for you–and don’t feel pressured to say “I love you” just because he did. It’ll feel a lot better to say it when you mean it!
Do you have a time frame in which you usually say “I love you?” Has a guy ever freaked you out by saying “I love you” too soon? Were you ever the one to say “I love you” first? Tell us in the comments!
This girl felt pressured to say “I love you” and she didn’t mean it!
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Would You Rather?
My boyfriend told me he loved me the night he asked me to be his girlfriend. We were bestfriends for like 1.5 years before, but the way he said it was different. It made me realize that he was in love with me from before we were in a relationship, but was waiting for me.