調查:英國人的中年危機提前至35歲

Britons in their late 30s and early 40s are unhappier than any other age group, suffering from loneliness and depression as work and Relationship pressures 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.

週三發佈的一項調查顯示，相比其他年齡段的英國人來說，四十歲前後的英國人最不快樂，因爲來自工作和家庭關係的壓力讓他們感到孤獨和抑鬱。

這項調查是由婚姻諮詢慈善機構Relate開展的。調查發現，35至44歲的人羣中，有五分之一的人希望同家人的關係能變得更好，近三分之一的人稱如果他們的工作時間縮短一些的話，家庭關係就能得到改善。

這一年齡段中有超過20%的人稱他們很多時候都感到孤獨，5%的人表示他們沒有任何朋友。

Relate的總裁克萊爾•泰勒說：“我們一直習慣把中年危機和四五十歲的人聯繫在一起。但這份報告顯示，中年危機可能來得比我們預期的要早。”

“當生活開始變得很艱難，當你開始組建家庭，承受巨大的工作壓力，並逐漸開始爲錢發愁時，這些都會讓人崩潰。”

Relate發現，在35至44歲的人羣中，22%的人由於感情關係不順而感到抑鬱，40%的人曾遭到伴侶的背叛。

這項涵蓋了2004位成年人的調查顯示，在所有年齡段中，爲錢發愁和失業是造成人們和伴侶關係緊張的最主要原因，而溝通問題、長時間工作和家務分擔問題也會給夫妻關係帶來壓力。

該研究發現，隨着現代技術的發展，人們同朋友和家人溝通的方式發生了變化，朋友之間更多的是用電子郵件和短信來保持聯繫，而非面對面交流。

四分之一的父母表示自己通過臉譜網和聚友網等社交網站同孩子保持聯繫，而十分之一的父母稱和孩子之間根本沒有面對面的交流。

該慈善機構稱，孩子與父親間的關係特別容易受到家庭結構變動的影響。三分之一的父親在離婚或分居後就見不到孩子了，相比之下，只有10%的母親在離婚或分居後不再見孩子。

Vocabulary:

take toll: 產生負面影響

crippling: 極有害的；有嚴重後果的

redundancy: the situation when somebody has to leave their job because there is no more work available for them （因勞動力過剩而造成的）裁員，解僱