Chores outrank children in modern marriages: survey

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Looking for the key to a happy marriage? Then take turns doing the washing up, regularly take out the trash and help bath the dog, according to a U.S. survey on what makes a successful marriage.

A new Pew Research Center study found an increasing number of American adults considered sharing household chores as very important, ranking it third in a list of nine items associated with successful marriages -- and put ahead of children.

Topping the list in the telephone survey of 2,020 people was faithfulness, with 93 percent of respondents rating it very important, with a happy sexual relationship coming second, rated very important by 70 percent of respondents.

"But household chores (at 62 percent) are now nipping at the heels of the second-place item - "happy sexual relationship," the Pew Research Center said in a statement released this week.

Researchers found virtually no difference of opinion on this between men and women, older adults and younger adults, or between married people and singles.

But more married working mothers tended to attach greater importance to dividing chores than married mothers who don't work outside the home.

Sharing the chores has not always been such a priority.

In a similar survey conducted in 1990, only 47 percent of U.S. adults listed sharing household chores as very important to a successful marriage.

"Overall, the new social consensus on this point is quite broad," the center said in a statement

Other items viewed as very important were the staples with 53 percent of respondents wanting adequate income, 51 percent saying it was very important to have good housing, and 49 percent putting shared religious beliefs on the list.

Agreeing on politics was ranked the lowest in the survey conducted during February and March, with just 12 percent of respondents rating it very important.