Parenting
Dating success starts long before the first date. Drawing on attachment theory and r/K selection, these articles explore how parenting and childhood experiences shape our romantic futures.
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Pop star parenting styles: fame, attachment, and the children left behind
Exploring the hidden costs of stardom Like many fans, I was astounded to hear that Freddie Mercury secretly fathered a daughter in 1976. If the claims in Lesley-Ann Jones’s 2025 biography Love, Freddie hold up, this woman—identified as “B” or “Bibi”—would be the same age as me. After picking myself…
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Earned security: how to overcome a difficult childhood and date well
Overcoming early wounds to build lasting, secure relationships In 2022, a viral TikTok trend called “traumacore” saw millions of young adults creating videos that aestheticized their childhood wounds—absent fathers, emotionally unavailable mothers, households of chaos—set to melancholic music and vintage filters. The comments overflowed with variations of “this is literally…
About the author
Andrew King
Author of Costly Signals: The Evolution of Dating Advice. PhD researcher with 500+ dating guides from the 1800s to today. Why do we take romantic advice from strangers? I have answers.
Work with me
Whether you’re a journalist, podcaster, or an event organizer, I’d love to hear from you. I speak on modern dating, evolutionary psychology, and the surprising history of dating advice.
© 2026, Andrew King