Does a long commute equal a short marriage?

A new study suggests that the length of your commute could be hurting your marriage.

Swedish researchers looked at couples from 1995 to 2005 and discovered that a commute of 45 minutes or longer increases the risk of a marriage failing by 40 per cent.

They found that men with a long commute are even more likely to end a relationship than women with a long drive to work, and that a relationship's demise is most likely to happen in the first few years of commuting.

They published their findings in the journal Urban Studies.

There is some good news, however: If you and your partner can survive five years of long commutes, you're "significantly more likely to be together for good."

Why?

"There could be another selection process at work there as well, that the 'weaker' relationships can’t take that kind of strain in the first place," the study's lead author tells the Local.

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According to the 2011 National Household Survey, the average commute in Canada is 25.4 minutes. The longest travel times in an CMA (census metropolitan area) are in Toronto, Oshawa and Montreal, with commutes as long as 32.8 minutes, 31.8 minutes and 29.7 minutes, respectively.

For many commuters, however, the commute is much longer.

In Canada, 17.2 per cent of commuters usually take more than 45 minutes to get to work. This number is considerably higher for commuters in areas surrounding Oshawa, Toronto and Barrie.

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(1.1 million of us skipped the commute altogether and worked mostly from home.)

An Environics Research survey in 2009 found that 30 minutes is considered the average "acceptable" one-way commute time — and that 28 per cent of Canadians would be willing to work longer hours in exchange for working within walking or biking distance from their place of employment.

Has your commute ever hurt your relationship?