There aren’t many labels millennials can agree upon when it comes to defining a relationship. No strings attached, friends with benefits, casually dating, the list goes on…
But there’s one label we all try to give our exes and according to science it’s not healthy. That label? Friend.
According to new research, if your ex is trying to keep a friendship with you after you’ve broken up, there could be something more serious going on. Turns out, they might be a psychopath or a narcissist. Let us explain.
According to new research, if your ex is trying to keep a friendship with you after you’ve broken up, there could be something more serious going on. Turns out, they might be a psychopath or a narcissist. Let us explain.
A study published in Personality and Individual Differences asked a group of people about why they stayed friends with their exes, and got them to rank the reasons.
In the meantime, they also conducted tests on the participants that measured “dark personality traits.” Sounds ominous, doesn’t it? It kinda is.
Researchers came to the conclusion that individuals post likely to keep up a friendship are also narcissist and psychopaths.
“Individuals who score higher on measures of dark personality tend to choose friends for strategic purposes. Thus, it is likely that these traits will be associated with valuing friendships for utilitarian or instrumental reasons, such as to maintain sexual access.”
So next time your former flame sends you a friend request on Facebook, save yourself the headache and decline.
This article originally appeared on InStyle.
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