KUALA LUMPUR: According to a survey conducted by international dating app SweetRing, many Asian countries show an accepting attitude towards premarital cohabitation. 70% of single Malaysians are perfectly comfortable with such an arrangement, with the number climbing to 80% for single Hong Kong men and 90% for their Taiwanese peers. Malaysian men believe they should “claim their turf” once they have a girlfriend. 60% percent of them favor moving into the woman’s current abode or renting a new place together once they have reached the three-month threshold in the relationship, a higher percent than the Taiwan or Hong Kong men when asked the same question. As for Malaysian women, they have expressed more caution around the subject, focusing much more on first getting to know each other more intimately, saying they would not consider moving in together until they have been dating for one or even two years. After couples set up house together, many former “unproblematic” issues may suddenly become problematic. SweetRing’s questions probing the issues surrounding premarital living arrangements targeted to Malaysian singles, with 500 individuals from each gender queried, discovered that half the respondents expressed concerns that an increase in conflicts between couples could do in the relationship because of poor communication, while the women also worried about an unintentional pregnancy before getting married. As for how the partners divvy up responsibilities once they start living together, as many as 90% of Malaysian men agree to cover the bulk of the daily expenses but expect the woman to take care of all housework. However the woman have an entirely different take on what is expected. 90% of Malaysian women say that they would like to see their partner offer more help with housework rather than footing all the bills. On the heels of the results, SweetRing strongly advises couples making a decision about or planning on moving in together should thoroughly discuss what they expect from each other, rather than having to confront stark differences of opinion after the fact, strongly increasing the likelihood of the relationship coming to a bad ending.-PRNewswire/BNN
