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"  From Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult&amp;#039;s sophomore split, to headlines that Michelle Rodriguez and Zac Efron called it quits after only two months, to reports that Sarah Hyland and long-term boyfriend Matt Prokop are kaput, stars are splitting almost daily, it seems. And it isn&amp;#039;t just coincidence, says Dr. Catherine Sanderson, a psychology professor at Amherst College, who studies relationships. August, it turns out, is one of the most common months for breaking up. And there&amp;#039;s psychology to back it up.  &amp;quot;There are certain life periods in which we are encouraged to look at goals in the future direct,&amp;quot; she explains. New Year&amp;#039;s Eve is the most obvious, but the end of summer is one, too. &amp;quot;People are assessing where they are, and where they want to be. Summer is often a relaxed vacation time, and then you start back to your real world. And some of that self assessment includes, &amp;#039;Yeah, this relationship isn&amp;#039;t really making me happy.&amp;#039;&amp;quot; Related: The Summer of Celebrity Breakups In Photos As for why you might see many celeb couples splitting, or even couples within a certain friend circle, Sanderson says groupthink is also to blame. &amp;quot;Many social behaviors\u2014drinking, smoking, obesity, loneliness\u2014are contagious within a social network,&amp;quot; Sanderson says. With breakups, &amp;quot;it can be a case where you have been in your own heart of hearts questioning your relationship and your happiness. All of a sudden, you see other people taking the plunge, saying, &amp;#039;Hey, I&amp;#039;m getting divorced. Hey, I&amp;#039;m exiting.&amp;#039; This can push you over the edge.&amp;quot; This may also be because, for summer flings like Efron&amp;#039;s, there hasn&amp;#039;t been enough time for them to fully develop. Dr. Paul Dobransky, director of Women&amp;#039;s Happiness, breaks relationships down into three stages: &amp;quot;We find sexual attraction first, then emotional attraction\u2014love and friendship feelings\u2014second, then, finally, intellectual attraction, such as commitment, partnership, teamwork, last,&amp;quot; he explains. &amp;quot;Up until that last phase, there are not absolute requirements, expectations, duties, or sacrifices. We don&amp;#039;t owe each other anything.&amp;quot; Related: 2014: The Summer of Crazy Celeb Love And that last stage takes, according to Dr. Dobransky, on average three to four months to get to. So unless you and your Danny Zuko meet on summer solstice, chances are, your warm-weather fling hasn&amp;#039;t properly gestated. With summer flings, &amp;quot;one of the questions is &amp;#039;Is that love?&amp;#039;&amp;quot; Sanderson says. Hot and heavy, zero-to-60 relationships that begin in June or July are often rooted in more superficial characteristics. &amp;quot;People may be out of the normal hustle bustle of their daily lives, consuming more alcohol, wear[ing] fewer clothes. Maybe that&amp;#039;s love, or maybe that&amp;#039;s really arousal or attraction, which is not the kind of deeper love that&amp;#039;s required to maintain a relationship over time. This is, in part, because when people are in relationships for longer times, they raise their expectations about intimacy, vulnerability, about connection.&amp;quot; Those summer flings, she says, &amp;quot;may be people that just aren&amp;#039;t willing to go there.&amp;quot; Related: Breaking: That Random Hookup Probably Won&amp;#039;t Be Your Future Husband, Study Says Still, summer flings aren&amp;#039;t all bad news\u2014as long as people are direct with their expectations. &amp;quot;It can be sort of like going on vacation, trying on a different side of yourself,&amp;quot; Sanderson says. &amp;quot;If both people are thinking, &amp;#039;This is just a fun fling,&amp;#039; and everyone&amp;#039;s on board with that, then that&amp;#039;s totally fine.&amp;quot; And for those who want more and are tired of the love executions, take note: Pumpkin Spice Latte season is just around the corner. Just don&amp;#039;t make &amp;#039;em Irish. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.elle.com/life-love/sex-relationships/advice/a14740/end-of-summer-breakups/>