It’s often seen as a taboo subject.
But a new study is finally lifting the lid on our sex lives.
Scientists from the n National University surveyed more than 800 people about their love lives, including how many times they have sex per week.
Their results suggest that there are four key types of lovers, ranging from ‘mild’ to ‘libidinous’.
Mild lovers make up around 20 per cent of the population, and typically have sex twice a week.
At the other end of the scale are libidinous lovers, who have sex 10 times a week on average.
‘The libidinous romantic lovers are the smallest cluster (9.64%) and exhibit relatively high intensity, relatively high obsessive thinking, relatively high commitment, and exceptionally high frequency of sex,’ the researchers explained in their study.
So, what type of lover are you? Scroll down for the descriptions.
It’s often seen as a taboo subject. But a new study is finally lifting the lid on our sex lives (stock image)
There have already been countless studies on sex and love.
However, until now, the psychological expression of romantic love has been largely unexplored.
Writing in their study, published in Personality and Individual Differences, the team, led by Adam Bode, wrote: 'While there is evidence of variation in the psychological expression of romantic love, to our knowledge, no one has attempted to directly empirically investigate this phenomenon.
'Understanding variation in romantic love as an interaction between genes and the environment can shed light on one necessary component of traits subject to evolution.'
To get to the bottom of it, the researchers enlisted 809 participants aged 18-25, who reported being in love with a romantic partner.
The participants were surveyed across four key measures - intensity of love, obsessive thinking, commitment, and frequency of sex.
They were also asked about various habits, including how often they drink alcohol, whether they drive dangerously, and whether or not they were on antidepressants.
An analysis of the results revealed that the participants fell into four main groups.
Their results suggest that there are four key types of lovers, ranging from 'mild' to 'libidinous'
At the lowest end of the scale were 'mild romantic lovers', who made up 20 per cent of the group, and had sex twice a week on average (stock image)
At the lowest end of the scale were 'mild romantic lovers', who made up 20 per cent of the group, and had sex twice a week on average.
Mild lovers were notably characterised by the lowest scores across all four primary variables.
'They have fallen in love the greatest number of times, have the shortest length of time in love, were the least likely to have fallen in love before commencement of their romantic relationship (19.75%), fell in love the longest length of time after having started a romantic relationship, and had the lowest proportion whose partner is “definitely” in love with them (25.31%),' the researchers said.
Mild lovers were more likely to be male (58.64 per cent) than female, and had the least satisfying relationships.
What's more, they were the most likely group to report risky driving, drinking alcohol, and taking drugs.
Next up were 'moderate romantic lovers', who made up 40.9 per cent of the group, and had sex 2.5 times a week on average.
'The moderate romantic lovers exhibit relatively low intensity, relatively low obsessive thinking, relatively high commitment, and relatively moderate frequency of sex,' the researchers explained.
Moderate romantic lovers were more likely to be male (57.7 per cent) than female, and were the least likely to have children.
In addition, they were the least likely group to be on antidepressants.
The third group was 'intense romantic lovers', who made up 29 per cent of the population and had sex three times per week on average.
'By all accounts, this cluster is intensely in love,' the researchers said.
'They have the highest proportion who fell in love before their romantic relationship (28.57%) and the lowest proportion of unreciprocated love (3.78%).'
Intense romantic lovers were the only group with more females (60 per cent) than males, and had the lowest proportion reporting risking driving, drinking alcohol, taking drugs, or smoking cigarettes.
Finally, the last group was 'libidinous romantic lovers', who made up just 9.6 per cent of the particiapnts, and had sex 10 times per week on average.
'They are most notably characterized by extremely high frequency of sex,' the researchers said.
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Libidinous romantic lovers were slightly more likely to be male than female, and had the highest quality of life.
They also were the least likely to report being anxious, worried, or depressed.
The researchers say the findings reflect the fact that 'variation is a necessary component for evolution'.
'That variation has been demonstrated in this study indicates that it is possible that romantic love is still subject to evolutionary selection,' the team said.
'It may also indicate that different groups represent different strategies in terms of mate choice, courtship, sex, and pair bond formation.'