When it comes to the way men and women deal with emotions and difficult relationship-related events, like breakups, it seems there are a lot of misconceptions. Watch enough rom-coms and you’ll get the idea that women are the only ones devastated by the end of a romance, but a new study suggests that might not be the case afterall.
Researchers wanted to understand which relationship issues people commonly experience and who experiences them more. According to the study authors, most existing research on the subject comes from people in couples therapy, so they turned to a new resource for information: Reddit. They analyzed more than 184-thousand posts in an anonymous relationship forum on the site, where people could talk freely without fear of being judged for sharing their feelings. And based on the analysis, men may actually experience more emotional pain than women when their relationships hit a rough patch. Or they’re at least more likely to talk about it online.
The study authors found men posted about heartbreak online “significantly” more than women, which goes against the stereotype that men are less emotional. Males used language related to regret, breaking up, crying and heartbreak more than females. Lead researcher Dr. Ryan Boyd explains the findings suggest that men may not be less emotionally invested in relationships than women, they may just be “simply stigmatized out of sharing their feelings.”
Source: Mind Body Green