According to a study conducted by psychologists at the University of Illinois, it takes an average of 8 years for people to completely get over their emotional attachment to their ex-partners. The results were published in Psychology Today.
The study involved 328 adults. Their average age was 30, and 57 percent of the participants were women. All participants had been in romantic relationships that had lasted at least two years and ended. Their average relationship lasted 4.6 years, and the average relationship ended five years ago.
The participants were asked questions about their thoughts and feelings about their ex-partners. In particular, they told whether they liked spending time with their ex-partners or whether they felt safe with them. They also provided information about whether they had entered into new relationships and who initiated the relationship.
According to statistical analyses by scientists, over time, feelings for an ex-partner fade away completely. That is, almost all people stop loving their ex-partners over time.
However, it takes an average of 4.18 years to lose half of this connection. So, complete forgetting takes 8 years. Some participants, even after many years, retained stronger feelings for their ex-partners than for strangers.
The study also showed that new relationships or the participant's gender did not significantly accelerate the rapid fading of feelings. The factor that had the greatest impact on this was continued communication with the ex-partner. The more contact, the longer the relationship.
Also, those who bury their worries are more attached to their ex-partners. Interestingly, having children from an ex-partner increased emotional attachment, but this attachment was lost more quickly than in childless couples.
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