TL;DR: Search for someone who does not treat you like an option. Ghosting reflects the ghoster’s communication skills, not the ghostee’s worth.
A (more or less) recent study from 2020 (Navarro et al., 2020) 1 describes that ghosting is more frequent among younger individuals and men. Reasons are increased anonymity and detachment through online dating platforms. This behavior should be expected in contrast to real-world interactions where you “can’t hide”.
So I am just not good enough?
Keep your head up: Dark Triad traits—narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy—correlate with higher ghosting incidence, especially in short-term relationships 2. Those traits can become visible in some basic behaviors of people: constantly talking about yourself or showing emotional distance
So, everyone who ghosts me is a narcissist then?
No. Sometimes the error might be your. Overly frequent communication can trigger ghosting in romantic contexts 3. Or you are just … weird…
What’s worse then? Being rejected directly or ghosted?
Ghosting causes emotional distress without closure, prolonging engagement and confusion. Both ghosted and explicitly rejected participants experienced high negative emotions, low positive emotions, and reduced self-esteem. Ghosted participants maintained ongoing emotional attachment, unlike those explicitly rejected 4.
So, ghosting tells you a lot about someone else’s ability to communicate and their social skills.
Further Reading: Why Partners Disappear: The Psychology of Ghosting
- Navarro, R., Rubio, E. L., Jiménez, S. Y., & Víllora, B. (2020). Psychological correlates of ghosting and breadcrumbing experiences: A preliminary study among adults. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(3), 1116. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17031116 ↩︎
- Jonason, P. K., Kaźmierczak, I., Campos, A. C., & Davis, M. D. (2021). Leaving without a word: Ghosting and the Dark Triad traits. Acta Psychologica, 220, 103425. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2021.103425 ↩︎
- Forrai, M., Koban, K., & Matthes, J. (2023). Short-sighted ghosts. Psychological antecedents and consequences of ghosting others within emerging adults’ romantic relationships and friendships. Telematics and Informatics, 80, Article 101969. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2023.101969 ↩︎
- Szczesniak, A. L., Pierce, M. E., & Spielmann, S. S. (2025). Give up the ghost: Emotional and behavioral responses to ambiguous rejection. Personal Relationships. https://doi.org/10.1111/pere.70018 ↩︎ ↩︎