Young love is bad for you

If you're unable to find romantic happiness, maybe it's because of that eighth-grade crush:

"Remarkably, it seems that the secret to long-term happiness in a relationship is to skip a first relationship. In an ideal world you would wake up already in your second relationship. If you had a passionate first relationship and allow that feeling to become your benchmark, it becomes inevitable that future, more adult partnerships will seem boring and a disappointment."

The research indicates that many adults ruin their love lives by comparing their relationships to the starry-eyed dream state they felt as teenagers. This is utterly unrealistic, since adults are burdened with so many responsibilities and hassles that you don't have when your biggest worry is passing a math test.

Perhaps a better way of summarizing the research is to say that the secret of happiness is low expectations. Or, put another way, once you've had Justin Timberlake, it's hard to be satisfied with Kevin Federline.