With a New Year comes resolutions: a more strenuous gym routine, no more doughnuts and… waving goodbye to your partner. The latest research has revealed that January is the prime break-up period for relationships, with a fifth of those polled citing it as the most common month to end a relationship.
The ‘stress of Christmas’ and ‘wanting a fresh start in the New Year’ were revealed as the main causes of relationship breakdowns. Break-up season: A new study has revealed that January is the most popular time to end a relationship.
The second most common month to split is December, followed by March. Those who claimed to have broken up with a partner in January were asked by researchers whether or not the time of year influenced the breakdown of their relationship, to which 62 per cent said it did.
The top five reasons for this were revealed as the continued impact of Christmas stress, wanting a fresh start in the New Year, financial problems, depressing weather and family pressures pulling partners apart. The study also revealed that, of those polled, 48 per cent were already in a new relationship.
A spokesperson for Vouchercloud, who carried out the research, said: ‘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 fact that it’s a new year and a new start, may mean that some people go with the “out with the old, in with the new” approach and decide it’s time to move on and find somebody new.
‘Whilst there’s no ideal time of year to break-up, at least with it being January the optimists amongst us can accept that they’ve got a full year ahead to move on, although that might be hard to accept at the time!’
