Despite high unemployment and a housing crisis that’s decimated black wealth, African-Americans are generally satisfied with their lives. That’s according to a new study released today by NPR in conjunction with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Harvard’s School of Public Health. Interestingly, the study found that when it comes to dating, black men are looking for long-term, committed relationships more than black women.

Gene Demby has more at NPR’s Code Switch blog:

[Harvard Public Health Professor Robert Blendon] speculated that this, too, might be tied in part to economic concerns. He pointed to studies in which black women are more concerned with the financial stability of their partners than Latinas or white women. And since black women are outpacing black men on a host of metrics that might determine their financial prospects — black women are more likely to attend and graduate college and receive advanced degrees — Blendon says they may be less likely to see much financial upside in pairing up compared to black men. "African-American women appear to have more security than men, and so women [might] see less men who see bring financial security to the table," he said.

Demby also points out that it’s important to note that the pollsters asked specifically about long-term committed relationships, not marriage. But the numbers still complicate the belief widely held misconception that black women are desperately — and uniquely– looking for long-term love.