<P> The first major study to test the principle came in 1972 in a paper by Kenneth Eslinger, Alfred D Clarke and Russell R Dynes . In the paper the researchers interviewed 113 randomly selected college students that were enrolled in sociology courses to find out if a difference in emotional involvement existed in relationships and whether or not the level of involvement was affected by how the person was raised . The methods of raising kids that were covered by the study were bureaucratically or entrepreneurially . The study confirmed that was a difference involvement between how you were raised and how involved in a relationship you were . Furthermore, the study showed a large gap in involvement between males and females with the lowest female mean score four points higher than the highest male mean score . This showed that males as a group were significantly less interested in maintaining their relationship and could use the principle of least interest to their own means . </P> <P> These studies were further reinforced in 1984 by a study that focused on the balance of power in lesbian relationships . Nearly 40% of those taking part reported an unequal balance of power . Furthermore, those who reported an unequal balance of power reported that they felt the person who was less dependent on the relationship had more power . </P> <P> In 1994 a study of 413 heterosexual American adults found correlations between the power balance between the partners and the emotional involvement of them to be both negative and significant . The researchers also noted that the perception of being powerless in a relationship grew as the emotional involvements in the relationship grew . 39% percent of the respondents reported that the woman was more emotionally involved compared to only 21% reporting the man to be more emotionally involved . Building onto this study in 2006 a study by Susan Sprecher and Diane Felmlee of 101 heterosexual American dating couples found that the partners who perceived themselves as more emotionally involved also perceived themselves as having less power . </P> <P> The most recent study on the principle of least interest took place in 2012 . In it 30 in - depth interviews with 15 unmarried African - American couples were performed . The study found that the partner less emotionally involved typically made the decisions about how to handle the couple's birth control . </P>

The one who cares the least controls the relationship