In one famous one, it is subtly noted that “parting– little death”. Breaking up a relationship is always, to put it mildly, unpleasant, many describe this process as a painful farewell to a part of themselves. Often women are more difficult to endure such moments. Scientists decided to get to the bottom of the truth and found out who is easier to survive a breakup with a loved one and how this is explained.
How men and women experience a breakup: Craig Morris's experiment
In an experiment conducted by researchers at the University of Birmingham, 5705 subjects from 96 countries of the world took part (average age 27 years). Each of the respondents was asked to rate their emotional and physical suffering on a scale from 1 to 10.
The result of the study was very expected – It is more difficult for women to survive parting with a loved one. Thus, the female half rated emotional experiences at 6.84 points, while the men admitted that their experiences were drawn to 6.58 points. Physical discomfort at the same time in women is manifested by 4.21 points, and in men by 3.75.
After parting with a loved one, women become stronger, and men "pull themselves together"
It is noteworthy that the breakup is often initiated by the woman and the most common reason for such a decision is "lack of understanding". At the same time, after a break in relations, over time, women are completely restored, in addition, parting even makes them stronger emotionally. Men, on the other hand, fail to fully recover, instead they try to ”pull themselves together”.
According to lead author Craig Morris, these differences are biologically based. It is more difficult for women to survive parting with a loved one, as they can lose more from an unsuccessful choice of a partner.
This phenomenon is explained by the fact that one meeting for a woman can end with nine months of pregnancy, and then years of caring for her child, while a man is not burdened with such responsibilities. Under circumstances where women are more at risk due to greater biological "investment", it is evolutionarily advantageous for them to be more serious about their choice of partner. In this regard, a break in relations with a man is perceived by them quite painfully.
For the strong half of humanity, from the point of view of evolution, in the first place is not the quality, but the number of partners, this explains the fact that parting with a loved one is not such a tragic moment for them. At the same time, after the breakup of a relationship, men are a little discouraged by the thought that they will again have to search and choose a new partner.
A person under 30 years of age, on average, experiences three moments breaking up a relationship and at least once it hits him so hard that the suffering continues for several weeks and even months, significantly worsening the quality of life.
In this article you can find out some advice from psychologists on how to get over a breakup.
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