From adolescence on, people's personalities tend to predict the type of experiences they will have in their love life, a new study from UC Davis concludes.

In a study that looked at the effects of stable personality traits on romantic relationships, UC Davis psychologist Richard Robins and two co-authors found both happy and unhappy people continue to replicate their relationship experiences.

Robins and co-authors gave comprehensive personality assessments to nearly 1,000 people at age 18; the subjects were asked about their romantic relationships three years later and again at age 26.

"Individuals who were happy and non-abusive in their relationships at age 21 tended to be happy and non-abusive in their relationship at age 26, despite the fact that, in some cases, they were not even in the same relationships," the study says.

The researchers found that aggressive, stress-reactive and alienated people had poor intimate relationships, and their relationships got progressively worse during their early 20s. In contrast, people who tended to experience positive emotions and who appropriately regulated their impulses were more likely to have relationships that improved in some aspects over time.

Robins also found two instances where the relationship experiences changed personalities. People who stayed in dissatisfying and abusive relationships sometimes became more anxious, angry and alienated. Also, some people in the same relationship for an extended period of time became more restrained in their thoughts, feelings and behaviors, whether it was a happy or unhappy relationship.

The study was published in a recent Journal of Personality.