Losing a Best Friend Can Hurt Like a Break-Up. Here’s How Adult Friendships End
There is no ritual for a friend break-up, yet 1 in 2 US adults report loneliness. What the research says, and how to end or survive one well.
Relationships
Love, friendship, family and the everyday dynamics between people.
Your Partner Is Quietly Sculpting Who You Become. Here’s How to Make It Good
Partners who believe in the self you’re aiming for help you get there. Push your own dream onto them, and it quietly backfires.
The 5 Love Languages Sold 20 Million Copies. Here’s What Science Kept
Researchers have tested the book’s three big promises. The part that survives is simpler, warmer and doesn’t need a quiz.
That Eye-Roll Says More Than the Argument: Gottman’s Four Horsemen, Updated for 2026
Criticism, contempt, defensiveness, stonewalling: what 2024 to 2026 research adds on texting rows, racing hearts and repairing the damage.
Sleeping Apart From Your Partner? The Science Is Kinder Than the Stigma
More than a third of Americans sometimes sleep in another room for better rest. Here’s what you gain, what you lose, and how to stay close.
Playing Hard to Get Can Work, Briefly. Then the Science Turns Against You
Not knowing if he liked them made women more attracted in one famous study. Fifty years of other research adds a catch worth knowing.
You Don’t Grow to Look Like Your Partner. You Probably Looked Alike From Day One
A face-recognition test of 517 couples married for decades found no drift towards each other. The resemblance was there at the wedding.
Do Long-Distance Relationships Work? The Surprising Research on Couples Apart
Couples living apart often report more intimacy than couples who share a postcode. The harder test, research suggests, comes when the distance finally closes.
Anxious, Avoidant or Secure? What Your Attachment Quiz Gets Wrong
Online quizzes promise to name your attachment style in five minutes. The science behind them is real, but it says something quite different about labels.
Do Opposites Really Attract? A Century of Couples Says Mostly Not
Films and fridge magnets say opposites attract. Data on thousands of couples tells a different, more interesting story.