Marriage Today Is A Mess

Survey results based on interviews with 1001 married Americans (501 men, 500 women), ages 18 and over.

How is your marriage working?
88% happy or reasonably content in their marriages.
12% ranked their marriages at the bottom of the scale, in the range between "It's miserable" and "I wish I could get out."

Why do you stay married?
71% chose "deep love"
73% cited "companionship"
30% admitted that they remain married either because of financial reasons or because "it's too much trouble to get out."

Are you happy with your marriage?
50% described their marriages as "loving and joyful"
30% characterized them as "peaceful coexistence"
7% complained that their marriages are unhappy or hostile.

Would you leave your spouse?
70% of the men surveyed said they "never" think about leaving their wives.
49% of the women said they think about leaving their husbands at least occasionally--and sometimes daily.

What is the main source of disagreements?
#1 finance
#2 household chores
#3 sex

Do you enjoy sex?
75% reported that their sex lives were reasonably fulfilling.
25% put their sex lives on the "tolerable" to "terrible" end of the spectrum.

How often do you have sex?
31% said they are having sex less than once a month.
27% "at least a few times a week."

Are you satisfied with the amount of sex?
60% of men said they don't have enough sex.
51% of women said they don't have enough sex.

Why you don't you have sex more often?
49% of men said it was because their spouse wasn't interested.
21% of women said it was because their spouse wasn't interested.
24% of women said they had lost sexual interest in their husbands or often were angry with them--or both.

Have you been faithful in your marriage?
24% of men said they'd had sex outside of marriage or refused to answer the question.
11% of the women said they had cheated
4%  of women avoided the question.

The reason for being faithful?
69% said the reason was because "I'm committed to my spouse."

Respondents who admitted cheating:
61% of men said they'd had sex with two or more people other than their spouse.
14% of men reported having sex with five or more other partners.
55% of women had sex with only one person outside their marriage.

What would you do if you found your spouse was unfaithful?
51% said that  if they suspected their spouse was unfaithful, they would confront him or her and try to save the marriage.
9% said they would "leave immediately."

Why did you get married?
80% "For love"
62% "It was the right time in my life," or, "I didn't want to be alone."

Would you still marry the same person if you had it to do over again?
16% of men said they would not marry the same person again.
22% of the women said they'd try to do better.

Do you want better communication with your spouse?
10% of the husbands complained that they and their wives "don't talk to each other enough"
15% of the women said they were dissatisfied with the level of verbal intimacy.