couples

Who is most likely to call it quits in a relationship?

 

Almost every relationship has a use by date.

Unless, you know, you get married and live happily-ever-after.

So, when that icky part of a relationship comes up, who is most likely to bail?

"Who is most likely to bail?" Image via iStock.

Scientists decided to use their valuable time researching this. You know, to give them a break from all that other serious stuff.

Read more: Seven events that can make or break your relationship.

Previously, only research had been done on who pulls the plug on their marriage.

In the United States, Europe and Australia, women were more likely to say they want a divorce than men. In the most recent research which looked at 2,262 adults in heterosexual relationships from 2009 to 2015, 69 per cent of the divorces were initiated by the wife.

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Study author Michael Rosenfeld says that women reported being less satisfied in the marriage. Rosenfeld put this down to women seeing marriage as "constraining, oppressive, uncomfortable and controlling". He said that in the US, women were often younger than their husbands, earned less money and took their husband's last name which may lead to their view of marriage.

Women are more likely to say the word "divorce" first. Image via iStock.

However, when it came to non-marriage relationships... women and men were equal on who initiated the breaking up conversation.

Read more: A guaranteed way to ruin your relationship.

When I asked the women in the office, many had done the breaking up in their past relationships. Only a few reported a more even approach of breaking up and being broken up with. Most of the women said that their relationship had run its course which lead them to end it.

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The study says that even for couples who live together but aren't married, there was no gender who was more likely to break the relationship up.

Good news: It's 50/50 with non-married couples. Image via iStock.

Rosenfeld explains, "I think that non-marital relationships lack the historical baggage and expectations of marriage, which makes the non-marital relationships more flexible, and therefore more adaptable to modern expectations, including women's expectations for more gender equality."

How many times have you initiated the break up with your past relationships?