Uncoupling

Diane Vaughan's insight — that uncoupling almost always begins as a secret, with one partner quietly withdrawing before either person names what is happening — is one of those findings that lands hard for anyone who has lived through a relationship ending. The 103-interview base gives it genuine sociological weight, and its applicability across sexual orientations and relationship types makes it unusually broad for a 1980s study. The research age is the honest caveat, but the core pattern holds.