72% of men regret getting married to their partner, study reveals

* Men are more likely to regret getting married to their partner (72%), compared to women (54%).

* Marital remorse is most likely to hit in the third year of marriage – the majority of those who regret getting married (38%) believe they married the wrong person, and would have been better off staying with an ex. 

* Study conducted by IllicitEncounters.com, the UK’s largest extramarital dating site.

The moment you say ‘I do’ is usually seen by couples as one of the highlights of a relationship – a milestone you’ll never forget. 

But it turns out that the initial wedding bliss doesn’t last long before people start wondering if they made the right decision, especially if you’re a man.

According to research conducted by IllicitEncounters.com, who surveyed 1,800 users of the extramarital dating site, nearly three quarters of men (72%) and over half of women (54%) have regrets about tying the knot.

So, how long after a wedding can you expect marital remorse to kick in? Shockingly, one in ten people questioned if they made the right decision within the first year of marriage. But for the majority, you can expect the regret to start taking its toll three years after the initial ‘I do’.

Incredibly, people who regret getting married to their partner aren’t actually against the idea of tying the knot – they just chose the wrong person to do it with. In fact, 38% say they should have stayed together with an ex.

The dull routine of married life was the next big reason people have second thoughts about getting married, with 1 in 3 people declaring they hate the monotony of matrimony. 

No longer being physically attracted to their partner led to 1 in 5 people declaring they wish they hadn’t gone ahead with getting married in the first place.

A member of the extramarital dating site who took part in the survey, Samuel, said, “It was about two and half years into my marriage that I started regretting my decision to walk down the aisle – I’d never been a massive fan of the idea, but I knew that’s what my wife expected of me, so I just popped the question to make her happy.

The regret really started to sink in when I came across my ex’s social media profile. I started questioning why I’d ever broken up with her – she was kind, stunning, interesting, funny… but at the time I just wasn’t ready for anything serious, so we parted ways.

I couldn’t go on thinking about what might have been, so I bit the bullet and contacted her. It soon escalated into a steamy meet-up, and although it was a one-time thing, it definitely stirred something inside me because life’s just far too short to live in regret.”

Sex and relationships expert for IllicitEncounters.com, Jessica Leoni, commented, “As relationships evolve, the initial romanticised vision may clash with the practicalities of everyday life, triggering a sense of disappointment.

The truth is, people’s expectations and the reality of marriage are usually misaligned – you might be under the impression that saying ‘I do’ will lead to a life of rainbows and butterflies, but marriages are hard work!

Marital remorse can be really risky when it hits, especially if you find yourself thinking about past relationships. People may start questioning whether the grass is greener on the other side, and ultimately that could be the push that sees them playing away.”