44% of Emerging Adults Have Gotten Back Together with an Ex

Is your ex really out of the picture? If you’re like many emerging adults, chances are you’ve maintained some sort of intimate relationship with your past partners.

A study published in the Journal of Adolescent Research examined the role exes play in the lives of individuals ages 17 to 24.

The study, which looked at dating data pulled from 792 emerging adults, found 44%of emerging adults who had been in a romantic relationship in the past two years had reconciled with at least one of their exes, either by having non-committal sex or by fully resuming their romantic relationship.

“Forty-four percent of emerging adults had

reconciled with at least one of their exes.”

About half of all reconciliations noted within the research involved sex.

The study authors discussed the implications of reconciliations with previous romantic partners:

“Emerging adults who reconcile may be prone to a behavior pattern that involves cycling through relationship formation. Furthermore, having sex with an ex may be problematic because former partners can have difficulty moving on from an old relationship or building new romantic attachments.”

Source: Sagepub.com.