Cross-sex friends who were once romantic partners: Are they platonic friends now?

Relatively little is known about the relationships between ex-romantic part ners. For example, is it possible for them to have a platonic friendship? T he present study addresses this question by surveying both males and female s who report having a cross-sex friend who was once a romantic partner and a cross-sex friend with whom there was never any romantic involvement. Both types of friendship are compared using rules of friendship, costs and bene fits of friendship, romantic desires, and overall quality of the relationsh ip. The results indicate a significant difference in the feelings towards e ach type of friend with more positive qualities associated with the platoni c friend and more negative qualities, in addition to more romantic desires, associated with the ex-romantic partner friend. it is suggested that the r elationship between ex-romantic partners is qualitatively different from a platonic cross-sex friendship.