12% of Canadians prefer open relationships, UBC study suggests

Source: CTV News Vancouver

UBC

More than one in 10 Canadians are either in or would prefer to be in an open relationship, new research from the University of British Columbia suggests.

Researchers at the school analyzed data from a nationally representative survey of about 2,000 Canadians between the ages of 18 and 94.

Among those surveyed for the study, four per cent reported being in an open relationship, while one in five said they have been in one in the past. Twelve per cent said that open relationships are their "ideal relationship type."

Respondents were made up of a nearly equal number of men and women. Those surveyed included people who were married, living with a romantic partner, single, divorced and widowed.

"Our findings suggest that more people would like to be in an open relationship than already are, possibly because of the stigma associated with these types of relationships and the difficulty of broaching this subject with partners,” Nichole Fairbrother, the lead author of the study published Monday in the Journal of Sex Research, said in a statement.

“Even with the stigma, however, it still appears that a sizeable number of Canadian adults are either in or would like to be in an open relationship.”

The researchers defined open relationships as "those in which individuals agree to participate in sexual, emotional and romantic interactions with more than one partner."

Relationship structures that fall into that category include polyamory, defined in the research as engaging in multiple romantic relationships – and "swinging" – engaging in multiple sexual relationships.

The findings suggest that those who reported a preference for open relationships tended to by younger and male.

"Relationship satisfaction didn’t differ significantly between individuals in monogamous and open relationships," the researchers said in a statement. "Rather, having a match between one’s actual and preferred relationship type was associated with greater relationship satisfaction, the researchers found."

Fairbrother said the findings could have implications for mental health providers, in particular those who offer couples therapy.

“Given that a significant minority of respondents say they prefer open relationships, it may be useful for mental health providers to consider ways of making it easier for couples to talk about their relationship preferences in therapy,” she said.

While conducting the study, the researchers also collected data about relationship configurations among hundreds of UBC and Ryerson University students and say they are analyzing that information now.

Trevor Hart, a psychology professor and director of the HIV prevention lab at Ryerson University, co-authored the study, as did Malcolm Fairbrother, a sociologist at Umea University in Sweden