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Experts in the media: Georgia Southern's Amy Hackney wades in on the topic of 'rebounds' in The Atlantic

Jun 21, 2023

2 min

We've all been there. A relationship ends and the rebound begins.  Now since the beginning of time it seems everyone from friends, family and advice columnists have had different opinions and perspectives on how each of us should approach 'the rebound.'


And earlier this month, The Atlantic decided to connect with Georgia Southern's Amy Hackney, Ph.D., a psychology professor, to weigh in with her expert opinion.




“Rebound relationships” have a terrible reputation. A romance ignited shortly after another ends seems chaotic—like an opportunistic ricochet rather than an intentional search for compatibility. After a breakup, people are commonly told to take their time grieving before they start dating again. And people dating someone who’s fresh off a breakup are told to be wary—of being used as a distraction, or being treated carelessly by someone fumbling through their own heartache. But research doesn’t seem to support the idea that rebound relationships are inherently toxic or doomed to fail.

When someone fresh from a split starts dating, it’s true that they might not be totally over their ex. But new relationships can help people move on from old ones. In one study of participants recovering from breakups, those who’d found a new partner were more confident in their own desirability, more trusting of other people, and less likely to say that they still had feelings for their old partner. Another examined rebounders who’d been in their new relationships for a year and a half on average. The quicker those subjects had jumped into that rebound, the higher they rated on measures of well-being and self-esteem.

Amy Hackney, a psychology professor at Georgia Southern University, found something similar when she investigated what helped college students get over breakups. “The sooner they began dating someone new, the faster that they felt that they had recovered from that prior relationship,” she told me. Although that might conflict with conventional wisdom, she thinks it fits with basic social psychology: A partner provides validation, care, and companionship, and when they go away, there’s no reason someone else can’t take their place. Perhaps that sounds unromantic, but according to Hackney, it’s healthy to be reminded—promptly—“how many people we really can have fulfilling relationships with.”



As Neil Sedaka would sing 'Breaking up is hard to do' and so too is getting back into the dating game.


If you're a journalist looking to know more about this topic - then let our experts help. To connect with Amy Hackney  — simply reach out to Georgia Southern's Director of Communications Jennifer Wise at jwise@georgiasouthern.edu to arrange an interview today.



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