Finding a nice person key to happy relationship

The key to a happy relationship could be as simple as finding a person who is conscientious and nice, according to a study which suggests that sharing similar personalities may not be as important as believed.

The study also found that dating apps that match people on compatibility may have it all wrong, despite their popularity. "People invest a lot in finding someone who is compatible, but our research says that may not be the end all be all," said Bill Chopik, an associate professor at the Michigan State University in the US.

"Instead, people may want to ask, 'Are they a nice person?' 'Do they have a lot of anxiety?' Those things matter way more than the fact that two people are introverts and end up together," Chopik said.

The most striking finding of the study was that having similar personalities had almost no effect on how satisfied people were in their lives and relationships, he said.