This Is Who's More Likely To End A Relationship

Breakups are hard. Breakups are even harder for those who were in long-term relationships. After a breakup occurs, it may sometimes feel like the end of the world. Like suddenly, you’re completely alone. But just know, you’re really not. In fact, a new survey found that a 64 percent of Americans have gone through breakups of long-term relationships, where only 23 percent have indicated that they have not. While a big majority of both men and women admitted to being on both sides of the breakup line, i.e. being both the dumper and the dumped, what’s more interesting is that women are more likely to end a relationship than men.

YouGov conducted a survey of nearly 1000 people to get a better insight into American long-term relationship and breakup habits. The survey asked questions such as: How many long-term relationships have you had so far in your life? How many partners have you said ‘I love you’ to? Have you ever had a long-term relationship end? Have you ever been the one who ended a romantic relationship? Have you ever had a partner end a romantic relationship with you?

The survey found that 76 percent of women admitted to being responsible for ending their long-term relationship, while 62 percent of men admitted to the same thing. On the flip side, more men also admitted to being the one left behind with 84 percent saying that their partners were the ones to end the romantic relationship, compared to only 67 percent of females.

More women even admitted to being the only one to ever end a romantic relationship at 19 percent, while only seven percent of men said the same thing. When it came down to a mutual decision between both partners to end the relationship, the percentages stayed relatively close. About 48 percent of males and 41 percent of females have had relationships that ended because both partners decided that it was just done.

Because breakups can completely suck, here are five facts about them to give you a better perspective — and hopefully make them suck less.

1. A broken heart is a real thing.

True story, you can die of a broken heart. As if breakups weren’t already hard enough. Broken heart syndrome or stress cardiomyopathy consists of a weakening of the heart muscles due to unexpected loss, such as a death of a loved one or an unexpected breakup.

2. Breakups are announced on Mondays.

The following question was posed by David McCandless during a 2010 TED Talk: “What rises twice a year, once in Easter and then two weeks before Christmas, has a mini peak every Monday, and then flatten out over the summer?”

If you guessed, “breakups!” then you would be correct. According to McCandless, after looking at over 10,000 Facebook statuses for the phrase “beak-up” or “broken-up,” he found that many people wanted to cut ties before letting loose on Spring Break and got dumped over weekends.

3. Women will consider dumping a guy if her friends don’t like him.

After all, friends know best, don’t they? According to research done by Dr. Kelly Brennan for the Terry Boyd’s World Radio Show, about 40 percent of women would say that they would seriously consider breaking up with their boyfriend if their friends didn’t approve.

4. A quarter of women would consider dumping a guy if their pet didn’t approve.

If friends know best, what about (wo)man’s best friend? A British study of 1,094 pet owners conducted by the animal health organization, NOAH (National Office of Animal Health) found that 25 percent of women would breakup with their partners if their pets didn’t like them. On the other hand, only 12 percent of men said that would do the same thing.

5. People underestimate how long it takes to get over a breakup.

A study actually found that people’s level of distress after a break-up was significantly less than the amount they initially predicted. Research shows that the key to successfully moving on after a breakup is to regain your sense of self. As in, you do you. A 2007 study conducted by Gary Lewandowski, a psychologist at Monmouth University found that most youngsters interviewed felt that breakups helped them learn and grow. In short, breakups can actually empower people and show how resilient they truly are.

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