What Do Americans Find Most Important in a Relationship?

A new survey by YouGov of U.S. adults has revealed a number of differences between how men and women as well as different generations perceive relationships. The poling platform asked 2,167 adults about their views of the importance of 32 different factors for achieving a successful relationship.

Trust, honesty and respect came out on top across age groups and genders, with upwards of 90 percent of respondents saying that these were each highly important. Opinions started to differ, however, on topics such as being monogamous. Older generations were far more likely to take a conservative stance on this aspect with 81 percent saying it was important among 45+ year olds versus only 51 percent of 18-44 year olds. Women tended to find monogamy more important than men (73 percent women, 62 percent of men). This data alone does not show how subcategories responded, for example young women or young men.

Romance too had uneven results, with younger generations tending to say it was very important (68 percent) in comparison to those over 44 (58 percent). Despite cultural stereotyping, the survey found that men were more likely to say that romance is very important than women (66 percent men to 59 percent women).

Meanwhile, having children was one of the options presented which was considered as a lower priority by a majority of respondents. Adults aged 18-44 were more likely to say it was very important to a successful relationship than those over 44 and men were more likely to say that it was very important (28 percent) than women (22 percent).