Young Men more Vulnerable to Relationship Upheavals than Women

Are men really from the Mars and women from the Venus? Are women truly weaker than their male counterparts? Are men emotional paupers when it comes to their love lives? Well, that seems to be the general outlook of the people. However, a study conducted by the Wake Forest University contradicts some facts about these age-old accepted gender differences.

The Study
The study was conducted by the Professor of Sociology at the Wake Forest University, Robin Simon. The long held mis-concept that women are more vulnerable to the emotional ups and downs in a relationship than men was challenged. Anne Barret, an Associate Professor for Sociology at Florida State University, assisted Simon and co-authored the article. The research involved more than a thousand unmarried young men and women, in the age group of 18 and 23. Simon and Barrett collected the data from a large sample of young adults from south Florida. The research is published in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior in the June edition.

The Findings
Some interesting facts were revealed during the observation.

• Unhappy romantic relationship takes a greater toll on men than women.
• Men tend to express their misery by keeping a strong front and a tough face.
• Men are more reactive to the quality of their current relationship.
• The paper draws attention to the “non-marital romantic relationships and emotional well-being among men and women on the threshold of adulthood.”
• The mental health of men is more affected by stressful relationship than women’s mental health.
• Men and women express their distress in different ways. Women express it through going into depression and men resort to substance abuse.
• Men benefit more if the ongoing romantic relationship is satisfactory whereas all that matters for women is whether they are in a relationship.
• Poor emotional well-being threatens the identity and self-worth in men.

The Possible Explanation
Robin Simons offers an explanation to this theory that young men tend to be more vulnerable to the emotional upheavals than young women. According to the explanation, the primary source of intimacy for young men is their romantic partner. Whereas, women are likely to have close ties with their family and friends. Therefore, any kind of strain on the relationship will bring down the emotional well-being of men since the emotional support is gone. Women, on the other hand, can find support from other avenues.

The study surely breaks some baseless misconceptions about the way male species handles a broken relationship.

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