When I mention to my women friends that Ed and I snuggle for hours every morning before we get up, they often respond, “Oh, my husband wouldn’t like to do that.Sex is what he wants when I lie awake next to him.”

But here’s the thing: Even though we often stereotype women as the cuddlers in our culture, women tend to have many more opportunities for human touch than men. They affectionately touch their friends and family members with less associated stigma than men might encounter were they to do the same.

So, men may be more touch-starved than women. Isn’t it therefore possible that touching and cuddling could be even more important for men’s satisfaction in and commitment to the marriage than it is for women?

In fact, researchers, from the Kinsey Institute in Bloomington, IN, recently surveyed more than 1,000 couples from the U.S. and four other countries to determine what factors predicted relationship satisfaction. All study participants reported being in their current relationships for an average of 25 years.

They found the opposite of what they expected: Non-sexual kissing, cuddling and caressing were better predictors of satisfaction with the relationship for men than for women inthe study.

Quite a few psychologists, not involved in the research, continue to be intrigued by the finding that men with long-term partners need touch and affection to be happy in their relationships. Indeed, stereotypes are hard to break, especially if we don’t talk about them.

Maybe it’s time we quit pigeonholing our men in ways that might no longer be true, and pay attention to their deep-seated, though often unspoken, needs for touch.