In a new study from Lancaster University, researchers found that men tend to experience emotional pain more than women when their relationship takes a turn for the worse.
They conducted the first-ever “big data” analysis of relationship problems. The study began as an attempt to create a map of the most common relationship problems experienced by people outside of clinical and counseling settings.
In the study, the team used natural language processing methods to analyze the demographic and psychological characteristics of over 184,000 people who posted their relationship problems to an anonymous online forum.
The researchers were then able to statistically determine the most common themes that came up across each post, creating a “map” of the most common relationship problems.
Results showed that communication problems were the #1 most frequent problem mentioned, with nearly 1 in 5 people noting difficulty discussing problems, and 1 in 8 mentioning trust issues in their relationships.
Previously unexpected patterns emerged from the data as well, including key gender differences in which themes were used the most.
The team found that the most common theme mentioned by people talking about their relationship problems was about the emotional pain caused by the problems, rather than the problems themselves.
The most common theme was about “heartache” and was comprised of words like regret, breakup, cry, and heartbroken.
Contrary to their expectations, the team’s findings showed that men discuss heartbreak much more than did women.
These findings suggest that the stereotype of men being less emotionally invested in relationships than women may not be accurate.
The team says the fact that the heartache theme was more commonly discussed by men emphasizes how men are at least as emotionally affected by relationship problems as women.
Additionally, the researchers found that men were more likely to seek relationship help than women in online settings.
They noted that developing a more accurate picture of relationship problems helps us to better understand when and why things go wrong in our relationships, potentially helping couples avoid the most common setbacks to romantic success.
If you care about mental health, please read studies about people who live alone may have more mental problems and findings of this mental problem may be linked to Parkinson’s disease.
For more information about mental health, please see recent studies about chronic pain linked to depression, schizophrenia, arthritis and PTSD and results showing that this sleep apnea therapy may help treat depression.
The study is published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. One author of the study is Charlotte Entwistle.
Copyright © 2021 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
