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Hypocrisy_Central's avatar

When a relationship or romantic union fails or goes south who handles it better out of women and men?

Asked by Hypocrisy_Central (26879points) January 12th, 2011
16 responses
“Great Question” (0points)

When two people dedicate years into a relationship but then it goes South who fares the dissolve of the union better, men or women? Do kids make it harder for one side or the other to walk away from a union that isn’t working? Who is more likely to stay in a busted relationship but just have someone extra on the sly?

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Answers

geeky_mama's avatar

Financially, I think that statistics show that men tend to fare better from a dissolution of a relationship. (At least marriage / cohabitation).

I think all other aspects are likely to be too individual or specific to the people involved.. That is, I think someone with less education or career opportunities, or perhaps one with lower self-esteem or diminished earning power is more likely stay in an unhealthy relationship for fear of being on their own financially/emotionally.

I think (or at least HOPE) that kids make a couple work harder at seeking out counseling or working at fixing whatever problems exist (breakdown in communication?) in the relationship before separating.

What always gets me are the situations like Al and Tipper Gore. Married for over 25+ years and THEN divorce?

jazmina88's avatar

men, probably do.Unless they start stalking and/or killing girls boyfriends.

ryan9305's avatar

I think it depends on whether the relationship consists of a stronger more confident man and a woman or a relationship that consists of a weaker not so confident man and a woman. There is to many types of people out there and to many different kinds of relationships to really tell.

meiosis's avatar

If kids are involved, then whoever doesn’t get custody loses out. I stayed with ex-Mrs Meiosis, who I no longer loved, for a couple of years because I couldn’t bear moving out from my daughter. We split eventually, and not living with my wonderful girl sucks, although not living with my ex is great.

marinelife's avatar

Emotionally, I think it depends on the two individuals involved.

I don’t think there is any clear pattern that you can apply to an entire sex.

Jude's avatar

Ugh.

Fairylover78's avatar

Agree with @marinelife here…. Everyone is different and it really depends on the circumstances involved… who hurt who, was it mutual….ect. ect.

6rant6's avatar

IMEO, I think women are more likely to turn to other people for emotional support. When that occurs, I think they fare better.

Men are more likely to pull in and deny they have a problem, so they may appear less concerned. But men – especially coming out of a long term relationship – don’t handle being alone well.

Seaofclouds's avatar

It all depends on the people involved in the relationship and what has caused it to come to an end. Some couples just grow apart and realize that they are better off ending the relationship and they are both fine. Sometimes one person is unhappy, but never tells the other, so the other person feels blindsided by the ending of the relationship. In those cases, I’d imagine the person who made the decision feels a lot better about things than the one that felt blindsided.

When kids are involved, it just complicated things a bit more, but in general, I’d say it just depends on the people involved, how much they can put aside their differences for their children vs. how much they are willing to hold on to their own grudges regardless of how it will affect the children, and how much time each parent gets with the children after the split.

Simone_De_Beauvoir's avatar

How could we possibly provide any coherent answer other than anecdotal evidence or some incomplete evidence from a random TIME article? I hear marriage makes men healthier but not women so regardless of how either of the major sexes handles divorce, men will probably be not as healthy afterwards.

Nially_Bob's avatar

It depends on the circumstances. There is no cultural, sociological or biological process innate in either males or females that would permit a valid and reliable answer to the question to be deduced. I’m sorry to say it’s simply too subjective.

janedelila's avatar

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Please explain to me why you use the term “major sexes”. I’m not being a butthole, I would like to understand what you mean.

Pandora's avatar

I agree with several of the comment here. It depends on the situation. My sister never recovered and compared every guy to the guy who dumped her and gave up on finding love because she still held a torch for him. My brothers would literally make themselves sick and bearly eat for weeks. Both are bad ways. There are men and women who commit suicide after a break up. It really depends on the person.

Crossroadsgrl's avatar

depends but it seems that around here in a SERIOUS relationship or marriage the WOMEN are able to move on easier EVENTUALLY

you HAVE to get the help/support/counseling etc you need, depending on the seriousness of the relationship

with a marriage, I can’t IMAGINE not reaching out immediately and getting into support situations…and men seem slower to do this

Simone_De_Beauvoir's avatar

@janedelila Male and female are the major designations but there are also intersex people.

janedelila's avatar

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Interesting. Please PM me, I haven’t really heard of this. I’m googling it, but your POV interests me.

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