The number of housewives who view their husbands as the most important aspect of their life drops drastically after the 10th year of marriage, according to the results of a Tokyo-area survey released recently by Yakult Honsha Co.
Among housewives married less than 10 years, 70.3 percent thought their children were the most important factors in life, while 52.4 percent chose husbands.
But housewives choosing husbands dropped to 32.3 percent for those married between 10 and 20 years and further decreased to 30.4 percent for those married more than 20 years.
Yakult, a leading maker of fermented lactic drinks, conducted the multiple-answer survey in November on 400 housewives in their 20s to 50s in the metropolitan area.
The survey also showed 44.6 percent of housewives married for 10 to 20 years selected dining as the most important factor in life and 39.2 percent chose hobbies.
For those married more than 20 years, dining and friends ranked highest at almost 50 percent each, according to the survey.