Biologically: How long do relationships last?

That's interesting and it would be good to get the details of the study to see how the author came to her conclusions. I am always skeptical of studies that bring everything back to biology. I wonder much more whether it's cultural overlays involving expectations from marriage, love, relationships and family structure. Quite obviously humans can easily override biology so why is the "four-year-itch breakup" more prevalent in western society?

Have we just got a shrinking attention span? A different relationship with time due to broadened opportunities, improved health and life expectancy and social expectations?

Also - I would make the observation that it doesn't matter why a relationship isn't working. If it's not, it's not, and if it can't be fixed, it can't be fixed. The reason doesn't matter so much - biology or otherwise.

 

well I guess it is not only Biological, because then we would have societies, where u break up after 4 years automaticly.
But there are anyway some intresting things out there, like in some parts of Tibet, women get married to one guy and all his brothers ( what is related to the restricted food, so to many children might not be good) or some chinese tribes with the matriarchats, where woman have thier own house and have a guy from time to time over, and they have children fro many fatehers.