Women cry more often than men, for longer - and in a more dramatic fashion, a German study has found.
According to the German Society of Ophthalmology, which has collated different scientific studies on the phenomenon, women shed tears on average between 30 and 64 times a year whereas men cry just six to 17 times during the same period.
Men tend to cry for between two and four minutes, but for women, sessions last around six minutes. And weeping turns into full-blown sobbing for women in 65 per cent of cases, compared to just six per cent for males.
Until adolescence, however, there is no difference. Up until 13, boys and girls turn on the waterworks the same amount, "showing that blubbing because of joy, sadness or anger is something that is learned," researchers concluded.
The reasons for bawling differ too, the paper found.
Women cry when they feel inadequate, when they are confronted by situations that are difficult to resolve or when they remember past events.
Men, meanwhile, tend to cry from empathy or when a relationship fails.
The function of weeping remains something of a mystery, however, and researchers continue to have doubts over its cathartic or relaxing effects.