‘Happy sex life’ helps marriage last

An overwhelming majority of people still view marriage in traditional terms as a lifelong commitment to a single romantic partner and acknowledge that a "happy sex life" will help a marriage last, suggests a new study.

Eighty-two percent of the some 1,200 surveyed individuals in the city between the ages of 20 and 65 said they believe in the concept of faithfully spending the rest of their lives with their spouse. By comparison, a small minority, 4.5 percent of respondents, approved the idea of having an affair, the report released last week by Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

Over 60 percent of respondents said that marriage is "a must" in life, and 53 percent expressed that a 'harmonious relationship' with their partner is most important.

Ninety-five percent of married respondents said that they had never thought of divorcing their spouse in the past year, after 38,550 married couples divorced last year, a decrease of 16.8 percent from the previous year, according to the city's civil affairs bureau.

Nearly 60 percent of respondents also acknowledged that a good sex life would keep a marriage stable and more satisfying.

Meanwhile, 43 percent of those surveyed denied the traditional idea of husbands having to be the breadwinners of the family, while wives stay at home to raise a family.

Twenty percent of respondents further expressed that homosexual relationships should be respected; 16 percent went on to say that homosexual marriages should also be approved by the State.

According to the lead researcher of the study, Xu Anqi, who specializes in marital studies at Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, the results depict an emerging shift in societal attitudes on marriage.

"What the research really tells us is that although people continue to view marriage in traditional terms, they also look at the institution of it with much more of an open mind than in the past," she told the Global Times.

"More people are allowing room for non-traditional marital concepts to enter - and are showing acceptance of them, too," she said.