Here are words of comfort for anyone who has spent more time than he should in online chat rooms -- a British psychologist has found that courtships begun in cyberspace can very well lead to true love.

Many "virtual" relationships thrive once potential partners meet face-to-face because they already know each other so well through their online encounters, said Jeffrey Gavin, a lecturer in psychology at the University of Bath.

"Chat rooms don't lead to shallow and impersonal relationships," Gavin said in an interview. "They lead to really close relationships because people express themselves more freely and are more open and honest on the Internet."

Gavin carried out in-depth interviews with 42 regular chat room users aged 19 to 26 years. Of the volunteers he studied, 29 reported close friendships or romantic relationships with people they met online, with 21 progressing to face-to-face meetings. One couple became engaged to be married.

"What tends to happen is that, when they meet, it's a fairly smooth transition from online to offline because they know each other so well," said Gavin, who presented his findings to the annual conference of the British Psychological Society (BPS) in Blackpool on Friday.

"Online, guys can be more emotionally honest and open, while women can be more overtly sexual."

His research also showed that most chat room users tell a few white lies about their height or the color of their hair. But in most cases they were minor misrepresentations rather than outright fabrication.

"They still seem to comply to the social norms around the body," said Gavin. "So the guys tend to make themselves sound blond and blue-eyed, while the women add a bit of blond to their hair or increase their bust size slightly.

"It's true, twelve of them told outright lies but the rest just exaggerated slightly."

(Agencies)