Only a minority of British people think infidelity should put a strain on a relationship - while disputes over the dishes rival sex among threats to domestic harmony
12:48PM GMT 12 Feb 2015
Barely a third of British people now think an extra-marital affair would put their relationship under strain, an official study suggests.
Anxieties about paying bills and tensions over long working hours outrank adultery on the list of possible threats to stable family life, according to new figures published as part of the UK’s official happiness index.
Meanwhile only one in 10 Britons believe that an unsatisfactory sex life would be a significant problem – only marginally ahead of tensions over household chores.
But the study also confirms marriage as the secret of happiness in modern Britain – with married people by far the most content overall.
The figures are contained in a study on relationships in Britain published by the Office for National Statistics as part of the national “well-being” research programme.
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When people were asked to rank their satisfaction with life on a scale of nought to 10, 84 per cent of married people – or those in a civil partnership – ranked their life satisfaction highly or very highly and only three per cent gave a score at the lower end of the scale.
Married people were 23 per cent more likely to opt for a score of nine or 10 than those cohabiting with partner, and 75 per cent more likely than divorced people.
Meanwhile when asked to choose options from a list of problems which could put a relationship under strain, more than six out of 10 singled out financial problems as a possible danger and four in 10 selected long-working hours or a lack of work-life balance.
Only 36 per cent chose extra-marital affairs as a possible problem, just ahead of not understanding each other”.
Meanwhile only 11 per cent choose frustrations over a couple’s sex life as a problem – just ahead of alcohol and household chores.
What's putting a strain on your relationship?
The study also suggested that race is a bigger source of division in modern Britain than age or social background.
Just over half (53 per cent) of those studied said all of their friends were from the same ethnic group while only a third said their friends were all of a similar age and just under four in 10 said they all had similar levels of education.
Gianna Lisiecki-Cunane, an associate in family law with JMW Solicitors, said the findings on financial worries far outranking adultery as a concern mirrored the experience of divorce lawyers.
"There are couples who find a partner's infidelity to be an easier pill to swallow than the possibility of having to untangle and divide assets which might been built up over a number of years," she said.
"The majority of divorces involve at least some concerns about money."
But she added that financial worries often count as much as a factor weighing against divorce as in favour.
"Those involved recognise that their financial worries are likely to be greater if they are on their own than if they remain in a marriage, albeit one in which there has been adultery," she said.
"A significant proportion of divorces do not follow a single dramatic event, such as infidelity, but come after serious consideration over time.
"In my experience, that is especially true among people who have either witnessed their parents' divorce or gone through a previous marriage break-up themselves."
She added that the figures on life satisfaction underlined how divorce is far from a "panacea" for those trapped in a seemingly unhappy marriage.
"Unhappy spouses may believe that they might be more content if divorced but the ONS data suggests otherwise.
"Some people who have ended marriages ultimately express regret over the way that their relationships ended.
"Others can remain embittered by the impact of divorce on their finances for a considerable period of time.
"The idea that married couples are more likely to be very happy than those who cohabit or live on their own should not be that much of a surprise because there is certainty, security and familiarity which should not be underestimated."
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