Most TV shows and movies have the same scenario that happens after a break-up: broken hearted guy/girl goes to a drinking hole, proceeds to have glass after glass (or bottle after bottle) of alcoholic drinks, starts chatting up a person of the opposite sex, whom he/she then ends up in bed with for ‘rebound’ sex.
That ‘rebound sex’ happens in real life, too, isn’t surprising for most of us in this day and age, and some researchers at the University of Missouri have even conducted a study on this. It involved 170 undergraduate students who have recently came out of a romantic relationship, and they were asked to complete weekly reports about their feelings for their former partners and about their current sex life.
Up to one-third of the study participants said that sex was either a way for them to get back at their ex or to get over their past relationship.
“Having sex to get over your partner was somewhat more common than having sex to get back at a partner.” -M. Lynne Cooper, Psychologist, University of Missouri
The study, which was also published in ‘Archives of Sexual Behavior‘, showed that those who were dumped were more likely to have rebound or revenge sex (the former being more common), and that casual sex encounters normally occur within the first four weeks after a break-up.
Co-author of the study, M. Lynne Cooper, also has plans for future studies concerning self-affirmation and ego when it comes to sexual encounters.
