Women tend to feel more burdened by having a relationship with a person of the opposite sex than men do, according to a private survey.
The survey compiled by the Japan Family Planning Association also found that the older women become, the fewer benefits they find in marriage from a psychological perspective.
In the study, released Thursday, 44.9 percent of female respondents said they feel such a burden, while only 30.4 percent of male respondents said they feel that way.
The gap is even wider when comparing the 56.8 percent of women in their early 40s expressing such a burden with 23.1 percent of men in the same age group.
"The finding suggests unconnected emotion between men who keep embracing the ideal of marriage and women who get tired of husbands uncooperative about doing household chores," said Kunio Kitamura, head of the association.
The survey also found that men find advantage in living with someone they are in love with as they get older, but it's the reverse for women.
Some 83 percent of men in their late 40s said they see such an advantage, up from 75.7 percent of men in their late 20s. In contrast, the percentage of women falls to 64.3 percent from 90.2 in the same age comparison.
The organization attempted to poll 2,676 men and women aged 16 to 49 between September an October, of whom 1,134 responded.