Britons in their late 30s and early 40s are unhappier than any other age group, suffering from loneliness and depression as work and relationshippressures take their toll, according to a survey on Wednesday.
The research, by relationship advice charity Relate, found a fifth of those aged 35 to 44 wished they had a better relationship with their family, with nearly a third saying these relationships would improve if they could work fewer hours.
More than 20 percent of that age group said they felt lonely a lot of the time and 5 percent said they had no friends at all.
"Traditionally we associate the midlife crisis with people in their late 40s to 50s, but the report reveals that this period could be reaching people earlier than we would expect," said Claire Tyler, chief executive of Relate.
"It's when life gets really hard -- you're starting a family, pressure at work can be immense and increasingly money worries can be crippling."
Relate found that 22 percent of 35 to 44-year-olds had suffered depression because of a bad relationship, and 40 percent had been cheated on by a partner.
The survey of 2,004 adults showed that, across all age groups, money worries and redundancies were the biggest strain on people's relationships with their partners, while communication problems, working long hours and the division of housework also put pressure on couples.
The ways in which people communicate with their friends and family have changed with the growth of modern technology, the survey found, with emails and text messages more popular than face-to-face communication for staying in touch with friends.
A quarter of parents said they used social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace to keep in contact with their children, while one in 10 parents said they had no face to face contact with their children at all.
Relationships with dads have particularly suffered from changes to family structures, the charity said, with a third of dads who are divorced or separated never seeing their children, compared to 10 percent of mums.
(Read by Renee Haines. Renee Haines is a journalist at the China Daily Web site.)
(Agencies)
周三发布的一项调查显示，相比其他年龄段的英国人来说，四十岁前后的英国人最不快乐，因为来自工作和家庭关系的压力让他们感到孤独和抑郁。 这项调查是由婚姻咨询慈善机构Relate开展的。调查发现，35至44岁的人群中，有五分之一的人希望同家人的关系能变得更好，近三分之一的人称如果他们的工作时间缩短一些的话，家庭关系就能得到改善。 这一年龄段中有超过20%的人称他们很多时候都感到孤独，5%的人表示他们没有任何朋友。 Relate的总裁克莱尔•泰勒说："我们一直习惯把中年危机和四五十岁的人联系在一起。但这份报告显示，中年危机可能来得比我们预期的要早。" "当生活开始变得很艰难，当你开始组建家庭，承受巨大的工作压力，并逐渐开始为钱发愁时，这些都会让人崩溃。" Relate发现，在35至44岁的人群中，22%的人由于感情关系不顺而感到抑郁，40%的人曾遭到伴侣的背叛。 这项涵盖了2004位成年人的调查显示，在所有年龄段中，为钱发愁和失业是造成人们和伴侣关系紧张的最主要原因，而沟通问题、长时间工作和家务分担问题也会给夫妻关系带来压力。 该研究发现，随着现代技术的发展，人们同朋友和家人沟通的方式发生了变化，朋友之间更多的是用电子邮件和短信来保持联系，而非面对面交流。 四分之一的父母表示自己通过脸谱网和聚友网等社交网站同孩子保持联系，而十分之一的父母称和孩子之间根本没有面对面的交流。 该慈善机构称，孩子与父亲间的关系特别容易受到家庭结构变动的影响。三分之一的父亲在离婚或分居后就见不到孩子了，相比之下，只有10%的母亲在离婚或分居后不再见孩子。
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