When it comes to matters of the heart, who is feeling the most fulfilled in their relationships in NZ? Is it love-struck uni students? Older couples recreating scenes from the Notebook in retirement villages? Or maybe working professionals with two big incomes and no children?
Well, according to a new report by Southern Cross, it’s those who are living with young children who are the happiest in their romantic relationships.
The results of the inaugural Healthy Features report – which was gathered from 3,000 Kiwis during 2019 to 2020 (including during lockdown!) – are out today and have some interesting insights into how we’re feeling in our romantic relationships, as well as in ourselves.
The good news is, more than half of the nation (58%) are feeling happy in their current relationships. But yes… that does leave a sizeable chunk of people who have some concerns – and 16% who outrightly describe themselves as unhappy. That’s one in five who are not in a great spot right now.
And, it seems out of everyone, it’s university students who are the least happy with their love lives, with almost one in three of them saying they are unhappy with their current relationship.
The study also looked at how we perceive ourselves, which threw up some confronting evidence that we really are our own worst critics.
Three quarters or us want to lose weight, yet we are largely happy with how our friends and family look. A third of us worry about how we compare to others, plus a staggering half of us are concerned about not having a plan for the future, about missing out on the fun side of life and are concerned about not feeling good enough.
We’ve got some work to do!
Let’s take a look at the numbers:
- 75% of Kiwis would like to lose weight
- 44% of Kiwis are happy with their weight but a higher percentage are happy with their partner’s weight (62%) and their children’s weight (69%).
- Retirees are more likely to be happy with their own weight (58%).
- 75% of Kiwis are concerned about the impact of social media on self-esteem.
- 29% of people worry about how they compare to other people
- 46% worry about not having a plan for the future
- 49% concerned about not being happy in myself/not feeling good enough
- 47% missing out on the fun side of life
- 58% are happy in their current relationships. Almost one in five are not (16%)
- Those living with young children are the happiest in their romantic relationships (68%), while almost one in three university students are unhappy in their romantic relationships (32%).
