It seems the stresses of Christmas and seeking that 'fresh start' in the New Year are the most common reasons for relationship breakdowns.

Relationships on Female First

Relationships on Female First

New research has revealed that January is the most common month for separations. A fifth of people who have experienced a failed relationship detailed that it occurred during the first month of the year.

Global Sales Director for vouchercloud, Matthew Wood commented: “Christmas is a stressful time of year, which can often cause friction in relationships. Combine this with the January blues and a lot of couples may lose direction. It’s no surprise that many struggle to get through this period. With fewer distractions, people may look closer at their relationship with their partner and decide that they’re not happy with what they find.”

The study was conducted by the UK’s leading money saving brand, vouchercloud.com, as part of their research into the influence of relationships on personal finances. They questioned 1,881 men and women in the UK aged 18 and over who have gone through a relationship breakup at some time in their lives.

People who took part were asked which month of the year their most recent relationship breakup occurred which unveiled January to be the most common month. 21 per cent said the split had happened during the first month of the year and the second most common month was December with 12 per cent, leaving March the least common month with 11 per cent.

Those who said they had broken up with a partner during January were then asked whether the time of the year was one of the causes that influenced the breakup which resulted in 62 per cent saying ‘yes’ leaving the remaining 38 per cent who didn’t see the time of year as a problem.

The same 62 per cent were then asked what factors they believed contributed to their problems and the following top 5 answers were given:

- Continued impact of Christmas stress – 31%

- Wanted fresh start in the New Year – 29%

- Lack of money/ financial problems – 26%

- Depressing weather – 22%

- Family pressures pulling you apart – 19%

(More than one option was allowed to be selected if more than one applied)

These respondents were also asked whether they thought their relationship would have continued if it wasn’t for the difficult time of year, 22 per cent said ‘yes’, 37 per cent liked to think that maybe it would have whereas the remaining 41 per cent said the relationship would have failed ‘regardless’ of the time of year.

Out of the people questioned, 48 per cent of the people were with someone new and were asked if they expected their current relationship to outlast the stress of Christmas and withstand January this time round the majority, 65 per cent said ‘yes’ however 25 per cent said there were ‘some issues’ and 9% confessed that they believed their relationship was ‘practically over’ already.

By Natasha Akpan for www.femalefirst.co.uk