Confirmed: Men need cuddles too

Men with long-term partners are more likely to be satisfied with their relationships if they’re getting lots of hugs, cuddles and other signs of physical affection, a new study finds.

The research, to be published in August in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior, also found that men are more likely to say they’re happy in their relationships, while women are more likely to say that they’re sexually satisfied.

Those findings were opposite of what the researchers expected, said study author Julia Heiman, a psychologist and the director of The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction at Indiana University.

“The really useful message is, don’t make presumptions about the genders,” Heiman told LiveScience. “Because there’s no way to be sure you’re going to be right in any way.”