Couples can achieve satisfaction anywhere from 3 to 13 minutes, dashing the myth about the joys that hours in the throes of passion can bring, ScienceDaily.com reported.

Penn State University researchers Eric Corty and Jenay Guardiani surveyed 50 members of the Society for Sex Therapy and Research. Thirty-four, or 68 percent, of the group responded to the Erie campus researchers' survey, rating a range of time amounts for heterosexual intercourse they considered adequate, desirable, too short and too long.

The therapists' ranges: "adequate," 3-7 minutes; "desirable," 7-13 minutes; "too short" 1-2 minutes, and "too long," 10-30 minutes.

"A man's or woman's interpretation of his or her sexual functioning as well as the partner's relies on personal beliefs developed in part from society's messages, formal and informal," the researchers said. "Unfortunately, today's popular culture has reinforced stereotypes about sexual activity."

Researchers said they hope to dispel the longer-the-time-the-better-the-sex notion and "encourage men and women with realistic data about acceptable sexual intercourse," Corty said.