Getting dumped for another woman is pretty much the pits. But new research shows there's an upside: You'll be better off in the long-run.
We know, we know, people always say that when a relationship ends badly. But the study, which was posted in The Oxford Handbook of Women and Competition, swears it’s true.
For the study, researchers from Binghamton University and University College London conducted an anonymous online survey of 5,705 people in 96 countries. According to their findings, having your guy leave you for another woman can help you grow as a person, and even increase the odds that you’ll pick a better partner the next time around. It can also lead to growth in other areas of your life, making you legitimately better off without whatshisname.
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Of course, researchers also acknowledge that being left for another woman seriously sucks in the short-term. “The woman who 'loses' her mate to another woman will go through a period of post-relationship grief and betrayal, but come out of the experience with higher mating intelligence that allows her to better detect cues in future mates that may indicate low mate value,” Craig Morris, research associate at Binghamton University and lead author on the study, says in a press release. “Hence, in the long-term, she 'wins.'"
The other woman, on the other hand, is kinda screwed. As Morris points out, she’s now in a relationship with someone who has a history of deception and cheating—both of which are indicators that he’ll do it again.
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While it’s still super-crummy to have to go through something like this, at least there’s some comfort in knowing that you’ll come out better for it on the other side. Oh, and also, karma's a bitch. Scientists say so.
