Internet, the second half to find a mate in the U.S.

Internet has become the second most common form in which Americans know of their partners, displacing more traditional media such as family or work, according to a study.
The research, conducted by experts from Stanford University in California, and City College of New York, says that about 30% of new couples formed in the United States emerged from meetings in the network, which places Internet as the second most common means of pairing friends behind.
The study was based on data from a 2009 survey involving 4002 adults, of which just over 3,000 were married or had a girlfriend.
"The Internet is becoming the primary way that Americans are getting to know their partners, and that has happened in a period of just 15 years," he told BBC Michael J. Rosenfeld, one of the authors of the research.
"Friends are something that has always existed and I think the fact that the Internet is displacing them as the most common way to meet a couple in a very short period of time is relevant," said Rosenfeld.
The researchers suggest that the Internet is especially important for those groups who experience more difficulties in finding a partner, as middle-aged heterosexuals or homosexuals.
Proof of this is that gay couples in the study made between 2007 and 2009, 61% met at the net, compared with 21% of heterosexual couples.Another relevant conclusions of this work is that people who have internet access at home are more likely to have a relationship.

Internet, help to find a mate

The results were clear: 82.2% of participants who had had access to internet spouse or partner, compared to 62.8% who were not connected to the network.

The rise of the Internet as a facilitator of new romantic relationships has been accompanied by the decline of other traditional forms, such as family or work."For 70 years the most common way in which Americans knew their partner was through the family," explains Michael J. Rosenfeld. Gay couple.
Gay couples formed between 2007 and 2009, 61% met at the net.
"But during the second half of the twentieth century that changed, because people are marrying later, because people travel and live less time with their families, so parents have less opportunity to intervene in the choice of partners of their children "he says.
The study authors believe that influiencia of parents in choosing a mate may explain why in the past there were fewer inter-or homosexual unions.As indicated, such as the internet transcends the barriers of the local community and the neighborhood, where parents do have influence, individual preferences become the predominant factor in mate choice.
"The Internet removes some of the social barriers that exist in the real world," says Rosenfeld.
Besides the family, in recent years the importance of place to find work as a couple have been in decline, after an increase of its relevance that continued until the 90 ".