If you could be born again, would you still want be married to your present partner?

When the Hakuhodo ad agency asked this question at the end of last year, 50.1% of husbands and 38.5% of wives replied yes, exposing a significant difference in replies between males and females. Interestingly, however, the percentage of responses by childless couples (52%) was nearly 10 points higher than from couples with children (42.9%).

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has noticed an increase in recent years of couples whose duration of marriage is less than the gestation period of newborn infants meaning that the bride is already expecting at the time of the marriage. This is so-called, “dekichatta kekkon (dekikon).” This may be due to the perception that “She is (or I am) expecting, so I guess I have no choice but to marry her (or him).”

As for responses to the question, “Are you disappointed with your marriage?” as opposed to 11.1% voiced by husbands, the same was said by 26.3% of wives. Another interesting item gleaned from the survey is that while 4.2% of husbands said they strongly felt their wives should apologize to them for disappointing them, 15.5% of wives voiced the same sentiment toward husbands. One secret of marriage satisfaction, then, may be to issue unambiguous apologies to one’s spouse.