Study Procedure

1. Baseline Survey (once)

• Duration: approximately 40 minutes
• Content: A series of questions about your personal characteristics, attitudes, interests, relationship experiences and current romantic relationship or dating situation.
• You will receive a personal link to send to your partner or the person you are participating with.
• At the end of the survey, you will be asked to provide your email address so that you can be invited to follow-up surveys. Your email address will only be used for this purpose and will be deleted once the study is complete.
• Note: You can complete the survey on a smartphone, although using a computer or laptop is generally more convenient.

2. Follow-up surveys (3x)

The study consists of four assessments (one baseline survey and three follow-up surveys) over a period of 18 months. The follow-up surveys will take place 3, 9 and 18 months after the baseline survey, and will each take approximately 20 minutes to complete.

Shortly before each follow-up assessment, you will receive an email with your personal survey link.

Eligibility

You are eligible to participate if you:

• are at least 18 years old
• are currently in a romantic relationship, dating, getting to know someone romantically or in an informal relationship
• have a partner who is also willing to participate in the study
• are willing to complete several short surveys over a period of 18 months

What you receive

To thank you for participating, we are offering several forms of compensation:

• €30 per couple (€15 per person) upon completion of the baseline survey, provided both partners participate.
• After each follow-up assessment, participating couples will be entered into a raffle with multiple cash prizes of €30.
• An additional €30 completion bonus per couple is available for those who complete all four assessments.
• Couples who complete all assessments together will receive a personalised couple profile with feedback on various aspects of their compatibility and relationship dynamics
• Alternatively, psychology students may choose to receive research participation credit.

Data Protection & Ethics

• Participation is voluntary. Before taking part, you will be asked to provide informed consent.
• You can withdraw from the study at any time, for any reason, with no negative consequences.
• Your responses will be treated confidentially and stored under a pseudonymised identification code. The contact information required for future invitations will be stored separately from your survey responses and will be used exclusively for the administration of the study.
• Your responses will never be shared with your partner.
• This study has been approved by the Ethics Committee at the University of Innsbruck, and complies with all applicable data protection and ethical guidelines.