A
love–hate relationship is an
interpersonal relationship involving simultaneous or alternating
emotions of
love and
hate. This relationship does not have to be of a
romantic nature, and may be instead of a sibling one. It may occur when people have completely lost the
intimacy within a loving relationship, yet still retain some
passion for, or perhaps some
commitment to, each other.
The term
love–hate relationship has been used in several books on writing as an example of the use of the
en dash.
The term is used frequently in
psychology, popular writing and
journalism. It can be applied to relationships with inanimate objects, or even concepts.
It is sometimes employed by writers to refer to relationships between celebrity couples who have been divorced, then who reunite (notably
Elizabeth Taylor and
Richard Burton, or
Eminem and Kimberly Scott).
A related theme is "obligatory
friendship", where one party usually feels indebted to another and forges a friendship but still holds a
grudge over a particular past disappointment or set of disappointments, while the "creditor" in the relationship agrees to the nature of the relationship often for security reasons, but remains aware of the "debtor's" grudge and feels counter-indebted until the cause of the grudge is sufficiently overcome.
The concept is frequently used in teen
romance novels where two characters are shown to hate each other but show some sort of affection or attraction towards each other at certain points of the story. The concept of a love-hate relationship is frequently used in teen novels to describe the romance between a good girl and a
bad boy.
Research from
Yale University suggests love–hate relationships may be the result of poor
self-esteem.
