Are you in a dead end dating relationship? Many singles stay in potentially harmful dating relationships they should have ended long ago. There are several reasons for overstaying a dating relationship.

Whether the single people involved include a senior dating couple, single parents or college students, the top three reasons daters give for overstaying a romantic or dating relationship remain unchanged:

• Fear of being alone

• Fear and/or guilt over what the other person will feel or do

• Fear of exchanging the the familiar for the unknown

Dating Tips: Relationship Red Flags

The dating advice here is that if you have one or more of the following dating relationship red flags, you should seriously reconsider whether this person is your lifetime soul mate:

Does your dating partner verbally and/or physically abuse you? An abusive dating relationship works in a cycle like this: The abuser commits the act, but then apologizes profusely. The other dating single forgives the incident, and the dating relationship continues. Unfortunately, the abuse cycle repeats itself over and over again.

Is your guy or girl overly controlling, possessive or jealous? An example of this type of behavior: She wants to go out with her girlfriends, but he "won’t allow it", or makes her feel guilty for doing so.

Do most of your family members and friends think you are making a huge mistake? Harmful dating relationships are easy to spot–unless you are the one in them! That’s why it’s important to listen, however difficult, to what the people close to us are saying.

Does either dating party lack trust in the other? No dating relationship, let alone a marriage, can survive without implicit trust and faithfulness.

Have you caught your dating interest lying about insignificant details? Remember, if your date finds it easy to lie about "little things", he or she will certainly do so about the biggies.

Does the other person never seem to have time for you, or make excuses why you cannot be together? If this is the case you can be sure that there is either boredom or disinterest in the dating relationship.

Is he or she helping you get closer to Jesus, or causing you to sin and fall away? Have you fallen into sexual sin and/or lost your passion for Christ and His word?

Overall, remember the Lord is the one ultimately in charge of your dating relationship, and He promises to meet your every need (Phil. 4:19). He will lead you to the right person as you surrender to Him, but He also wants us to use our common sense. So use the above dating tips as common sense advice to help guide your dating relationship.