Looks like your mum was right – a leopard never changes its spots, and most of us are loth to make big changes for our partner. YouGov asked 1,652 Brits what they would change about themselves for a partner, and found that most of us will stick stubbornly to certain habits, no matter what our beloved might think.
So, however much you might hate your boyfriend’s colleagues, 29% of respondents wouldn’t give up a job for a partner. And, confirming that the veggie/non-veggie divide is the great social rift of modern times, only 24% would become a vegetarian at their lover’s behest.
Hearteningly, it looks as though only 14% of us would be willing to ditch a friend because a partner said so. And a tiny 5% would convert to a new religion – which perhaps helps explain its overall decline.
So, what would we alter about ourselves? Moving house scored highest, with almost three-quarters saying they would up sticks within the UK for love, and almost half willing to move abroad. Two-thirds of us would stop smoking, and 45% would stop drinking. This could be uncharitably translated to show that we would improve our health in ways we’d like to do anyway, if given a little loving prod.
Surname-changing came with a stark gender divide: half of women would, compared to just 30% of men. And this isn’t changing: 18-24-year-old women were actually the most likely (55%) to have changed, or be willing to change, their surname.
In more heartening news for gender relations, only 13% of women said they would be prepared to change their appearance to suit their partner’s tastes. A third of men would do so, and while we have all clearly have our own red lines, a whopping 42% of respondents would break up with someone because they would not change.
Coincidentally, research released last week shows that single people experience more psychological growth than married people – perhaps because they can guzzle their meat, booze and fags in peace.
