Not too few to mention

Lost loves and unfulfilling relationships have come top of the list in a US survey of people's regrets. Women were particularly likely to mention romantic regrets; men more often focused on career or education (Social Psychological and Personality Science: tinyurl.com/436u55d).

Mike Morrison at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Neal Roese at Northwestern University used random telephone dialling to interview a representative sample of 370 adults (207 women). A finding that contrasted with earlier research, nearly all of which depended on student samples, was that regrets about things done and regrets about missed opportunities were equally prevalent, rather than the former being cited more often. Regrets involving inaction tended to be longer-lasting but regrets involving actions were more intense.

Another novel detail was that people's stated regrets were associated with their life circumstances - for example, participants who lacked a higher education or a romantic relationship tended to have regrets in those areas. Also, those with high levels of education had the most career-related regrets. 'Apparently, the more education obtained, the more acute may be the sensitivity to aspiration and fulfilment,' the researchers said.