London: Young men's 'bromances' - close friendships with other men - are more emotionally satisfying than their romantic relationships with women, a study has found.
Researchers from University of Winchester in the UK interviewed 30 undergraduate straight men. They found that the men felt less judged by their close male friends than by their girlfriends.
It was also easier for men to overcome conflicts and express their emotions in their bromances than in their romances.
The study, published in the journal Men and Masculinities, suggest that the rise in bromances can be recognised as a progressive development in the relations between men, but they also wrote that this progress may negatively affect heterosexual relations.
For example, researchers suggested that strong bromances could challenge traditional domestic living arrangements between men and women.
