These 45 Awkward Dating Stories Prove Parents Shouldn’t Be Involved In Your Love Life

While these labels are often used in a derogatory way, it's important to remember that very few things in life are either black or white.

"What used to be a schoolyard insult is viewed fresh in the current dating world," Dr. Sabrina Romanoff, a clinical psychologist and professor at Yeshiva University in New York City, told Bored Panda. "'Mama’s boys' used to be an emasculating term signifying weakness in the days of toxic masculinity. Now, it represents a man who has the capacity to love and have healthy relationships with women.

"Additionally, 'daddy's girls' tend to have the capacity to form healthy relationships with men, know they deserve love, and tend to use that strong relationship with their fathers to affirm their own self-worth, which trickles into how they approach the dating world with confidence and poise," explained Dr. Romanoff, who also shares interesting and useful everyday psychology tips on her Instagram account.

While it can be fun to read about people's breakups, we need to be careful about dissing and categorizing people.

Also, when we're choosing a partner, it's a combination of their features that we pay attention to. "When it comes to compatibility in dating, we usually start our assessment on the surface and then explore with greater depth," Dr. Romanoff said.

To avoid getting blindsided by one feature and remain aware of the bigger picture, the psychologist said to "start with physical/intellectual/emotional attraction (usually the first indicator of a right-swipe on dating apps via desirability of their physical body or responses/prompts which represent their emotional/intellectual resources).

"Next, assess shared interests, humor, and communication style: Do you enjoy the same activities? Laugh at the same things? Find the same topics fascinating? These will largely determine the quality of the time you’ll spend together," Dr. Romanoff added.

On a deeper level, Dr. Romanoff emphasized the alignment of your values, long-term goals, ability to navigate differences and reach compromises, and whether you're ok with making space for each other’s needs and can establish trust.

But when things don't work out, participating in a thread like this might help. Kind of.

There was a small study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, where researchers gathered 24 heartbroken people, ages 20-37, who had been in a long-term relationship for an average of 2.5 years. Some had been dumped, while others had ended their relationship, but all were upset about it—and most still loved their exes. In a series of prompts, they were coached using three cognitive strategies intended to help them move on, and one of them was to negatively reappraise their ex. The person was asked to mull over the unfavorable aspects of their former partner, like a particularly annoying habit.

Next, the researchers showed everyone a photo of their ex and measured the intensity of emotion in response to the image using electrodes placed on the posterior of the scalp.

According to the readings, the practice significantly decreased people's emotional response to the picture (relative to their responses in the control trials, which didn’t use the prompt).

After viewing their lover in a negative light, the participants in the study also experienced a decrease in feelings of love toward their ex. But, they reported being in a worse mood than when they started, suggesting that these negative thoughts, although helpful for moving on, may be distressing in the short term.