A 2025 preregistered study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology analyzed data from over 10,000 participants across four national longitudinal studies. It found a clear pattern: relationship satisfaction doesn’t just drop suddenly at the end. Rather, it goes through a phase of “terminal decline.” This decline begins years before the actual breakup, with a slow preterminal dip, followed by a sharper crash months before separation.

The study also discovered that relationship satisfaction declines more sharply than general life satisfaction. This pattern was more severe for partners who didn’t initiate the breakup .

Although the research suggests a clear trajectory, most people don’t see the signs that they’re on it until it’s too late. They say things like,

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