If You're Still Friends With Your Ex You're Probably A Psychopath

Did you break up with a girlfriend/boyfriend and remain friends after? If so, bad news: you're probably a psychopath.

Yep, according to a new study in Personality and Individual Differences, only psychopaths and narcissists still benefit from their relationships after they've finished.

Participants in the study were questioned as to why they stayed friends with an ex and then a different group of participants were asked to give ratings of importance for each reason that the other group listed.

All in all, there were seven categories of reasons for staying friends.

Former couples should be arguing like this. Not getting along like narcissists.

The highest-rated reason was that the "ex is reliable, trustworthy and of sentimental value."

The lowest-rated reasons were pragmatism and practicality. Men rated pragmatism and sexual access as reasons to pursue a friendship after the relationship more than women.

And those who mark pragmatism and sexual access as a priority also produce results of "dark personality traits" like psychopathy and narcissism.

The findings said: "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.

"Our findings are consistent with previous research and suggest that PRF (post-relationship friendship) may provide opportunity for ex-partners to exchange desirable resources (e.g., love, status, information, money, sex) after romantic relationship dissolution."

So there you have it. Leaves your exes be.

Unless you're comfortable with being labelled a potential psychopath.

Words by Josh Teal

Josh Teal

Josh Teal is a journalist at LADbible. He has contributed to the 'Knowing Me, Knowing EU' and 'UOKM8?' campaigns interviewing everyone from student drug dealers to climate change activists.

@tealioni