PEOPLE who attend church regularly are more likely to be happy with their love lives, a new study by researchers at the University of Porto in Portugal suggests. They interviewed 1284 adult Portuguese women and men between 18 and 90 years old, and asked them about their love and sex lives.

The study, by Professor Félix Neto and Maria da Conceição Pinto, has been published by Springer in its journal Applied Research in Quality of Life.

The report said: "The finding that believers and regular churchgoers are positive about their love lives is in line with previous studies that associate religious involvement with better mental health and greater satisfaction with life and sexual relationships in general."

Being married or cohabiting is also likely to make people feel happier with their relationships.

The study found that levels of satisfaction with their love lives within relationships stayed fairly constant until the age of 60, when satisfaction levels declined, partly because older people said it was of less importance to them.

A combination of factors, including age, religious involvement, marital status, and love style - manipulative, say, or playful - influence a person's satisfaction with love. But manipulative and possessive men were also more likely to report high levels of satisfaction.

The authors concluded: "In contrast to much past investigation on love, our research used a sample of adults representing a full range of age. Focusing on exploration of age-variations in satisfaction with love life, the research displayed a comprehensive view of differences and similarities across the adult life span."