Relationships

Monroe rated the depressive symptoms of close to 1,500 teenagers, then surveyed them about major life events that they had experienced in the past year, including a break-up with a boyfriend or girlfriend. Of the teens that were clinically depressed or had been clinically depressed in the past, a whopping 46% reported splitting up with a partner during the year before their first bout of the blues.

Of course, his finding may not be as dramatic as it seems. Break-ups and make-ups are perfectly normal events in a teen's life, Monroe emphasizes in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, and do not trigger depression in everyone. He believes that some people may have a predetermined vulnerability to romantic ups and downs--and to low spirits during those down periods. Still, being in love is far too rewarding for anyone to avoid romantic relationships, simply to skirt a case of the blues.

--Amanda Druckman

MATING

Tall Men Do Get The Girl

The belief that short men get short shrift in the dating world isn't just a tall tale.

Scientists recently reviewed the medical records of 3,200 Polish men between the ages of 28 and 60 and discovered that bachelors tended to be one inch shorter than married men. Childless men were also an inch shorter than men with at least one child.

Short men can blame evolution for this injustice, says Robin Dunbar, Ph.D., professor of evolutionary psychology at England's University of Liverpool. "Women do not select men for their height," he notes. "Height is a guide for what women really focus on: genes, wealth and status."

Indeed, prior research I shows that tall men are more successful academically, socially and financially, so women who think tall is their type likely crave these other qualities.

There is hope for the vertically challenged: Recent improvements in diet are making everyone taller, says Dunbar, and bodies that are too tall will eventually become misaligned, leading women to seek shorter, more symmetrical men. Still, evolution is a slow process--so short men seeking justice may be in for a long wait.

--Amy Wilson

SEX

We're Animals in Bed

If you're planning to seduce your date at the end of a night out, don't see a slasher flick first.

So says Jamie Goldenberg, Ph.D., a psychology professor at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, who has found that death inspires a fear of sex in the insecure. She tested 73 subjects for neuroticism--" a measure of emotional instability or a deficit in self-worth," she explains--then asked them to answer questions on their beliefs about death. Finally, they rated how appealing they found certain physical and romantic aspects of sex.

The subjects deemed most neurotic found the physical aspects of sex least appealing. Sex, says Goldenberg, subconsciously threatens our security because it reminds us of our animalistic natures. Most people get past this by associating sex with love and intimacy, human and enduring emotions that make life more meaningful. But the insecure find it difficult to sustain such a substantive view of their lives and often feel anxious after contemplating death, especially during primal acts like sex.

There is hope for neurotics: When first read statements about romance, insecure subjects found sex more appealing. So if you're dating a neurotic, try plying him or her with flowers, not Scream 3.

--Camille Chatterjee