How Relationships in a Man's Past Influence His Future Ones

Guys who get on well with their parents while growing up are more likely to have good romantic relationships, notes a Science Daily article. A University of Alberta study showed that rocky relationships between parents and teenage boys have an impact on the quality of romantic relationships in early adulthood. If a guy can acknowledge the negative behaviors he brought to his relationship with his parents, he might be able to it avoid making mistakes with girlfriends, researchers suggest.

Boys who are close with their friends as teenagers are more likely to be open and expressive and are more emotionally attached to their girlfriends in early adulthood, a study by the University of Minnesota revealed. The research, published in the "Journal of Personality and Social Psychology," shows that guys who have close relationships with friends when they are younger make their girlfriends feel happier and are able to more easily resolve relationship problems.

A guy's romantic relationships seem to form a pattern as he grows older, starting with fairly short-term, shallow relationships and moving on to longer, closer relationships. Research published in the "International Journal of Behavioral Development" in 2003 found that if a guy manages to have a close, high-quality relationship with a girl at the age of 17, he is likely to be able to have a stronger, loving relationship at the age of 21. Shorter, less close relationships act as a learning curve for a longer-term committed relationship later on.

The most common type of emotional baggage that guys and girls carry is due to their past relationship history, notes research led by Oakland University. One-quarter of all emotional baggage reported in relationships is due to previous relationship problems, such as being cheated on, the 2009 study showed. In committed relationships, women noticed that men reveal more baggage than they tend to do in less serious relationships. If you’re dating a new guy, displaying warmth and kindness will help him feel safe, while increasing the sense of trust he may need to open up about his past.