Brigham Young University researchers Lori Schade and Jonathan Sandberg studied 276 young adults around the country and found that being constantly connected through technology can create some disconnects in committed relationships.
Researchers found that for women using text messages to apologise, work out differences or make decisions is associated with lower relationship quality.
For men, too frequent texting is associated with lower relationship quality, the study found.
However, expressing affection via text enhances the relationship for both the genders, researchers found.
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The study participants weren't just casually dating - 38 per cent said they were in a serious relationship, 46 per cent were engaged and 16 per cent were married.
Each participant completed an extensive relationship assessment that included questions about their use of technology in the relationship.
About 82 per cent of them traded text messages with their partner multiple times a day.
Many of the couples used texting for stuff scholars call "relationship maintenance," or the kind of conversations that help couples get on the same page. Ordinarily having these conversations is a good thing, but texting can get in the way and make things worse.
For men, more texting doesn't necessarily mean a better relationship. And they don't just get tired of receiving texts; their relationship satisfaction is also lower when they send a lot of texts themselves.
The good news is that saying something sweet in a text works universally for men and women. In fact, sending a loving text was even more strongly related to relationship satisfaction than receiving one.