Research in the journal Acta Psychologica found that people who like to end relationships by breaking communication, commonly called “ghosting,” tend to have psychopathic and narcissistic personalities. Researchers found that ghosting perpetrators tended to be owned by men rather than women.

Researchers surveyed 341 adults in the US, of which 23 percent were men. The participants were also asked to take a personality survey in which researchers assessed the traits of the dark personality triad consisting of machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy. The researchers explain, narcissism is characterized by superiority behavior; Machiavellianism is characterized by cynicism and manipulativeness, and callous social attitudes and interpersonal antagonism characterize psychopaths. As a result, 51 percent of participants reported having ghosted someone to end a relationship in the past.

The researchers concluded that ghosting might be the way people, especially men, tend to be psychopathic and narcissistic. The men find the easiest and most efficient way to get away from a casual sex partner, pursue other opportunities, or simply avoid a more serious commitment in a relationship.