Negative relationships by sex, age, income, region and disability status

The quality of personal relationships can vary by sex, age, income and disability status

There is a strong relationship between the quality of personal relationships and someone’s health. Extensive research has found that good relationships are associated with improved physical and mental health, including lower stress levels, lower death rates and reduced prevalence of cardiovascular diseases. In contrast, strained and conflicted relationships can have detrimental effects on people’s health. 

This chart explores the varying proportion of people in different social groups who have a negative relationship with a partner, family or friends. Relationships are classified as negative if there are three or more negative aspects to the relationship, including whether there is criticism and tension in the relationship.

• People aged 65+ are the least likely to have negative relationships. For example, they are half as likely to have negative relationships with family than 35- to 44-year-olds (3.5% vs 7.4%)
• People in the lowest income quintile are twice as likely to be in a negative relationship with a partner as with their friends (4.3% vs 2.2%). There is no difference in these relationship types for people in the highest quintile.
• Nearly twice as many disabled people have negative relationships with their family (9%) as non-disabled people (5%).
• There are no substantial differences between regions in terms of relationship quality.
• Small sample sizes when breaking down the data by ethnic group don't allow us to draw conclusions on the relationship between ethnicity and relationship quality.