A fifth of spouses¹ admit checking their partner's emails or text messages, according to a new study.

一项最新研究显示，英国五分之一的已婚夫妇承认自己曾检查过伴侣的电子邮件或短信。

When partners were asked whether they had read their spouses emails, eight per cent of men and 14 per cent of women said they had.

The report also found that in a fifth of relationships, at least one partner had checked their spouse's browser² history on the computer.

Entitled "Netiquette（网络礼节） within married couples", the study involved an analysis of data from nearly 1,000 UK couples by researchers from the London School of Economics, the University of Oxford³ and Nottingham Trent University.

Ellen Helsper, who led the study, said: "Our findings showed that there are surprisingly high levels of surveillance（监督，监视） .

"One of the surprising findings was that surveillance was undertaken more often by wives than husbands.

"This contrasts with research that suggests that women are less technologically⁵ skilled than men. It seems that they are able to overcome these barriers when they feel their relationship is at stake（处于险境） .''

The researchers, who reported their findings in the journal, Computers in Human Behavior this week, analysed replies given to a series of questions about internet use.

When partners were asked whether they had read their spouses' emails, eight percent of men and 14 percent of women said they had. In a further ten percent of cases, both had done so.

Asked the same question in relation to（关于，涉及） text messages, seven percent of men and 13 percent of women said they had. Again, in a further ten percent of cases, both said they had done so.

This equates⁶ to around a fifth of spouses admitting to checking emails or text messages.

One in 10 women and six percent of men had check the browser history of their partners. In a further four percent of relationships, both said they had.

One percent of both men and women had used monitoring software, and one percent had posed as（假装，伪装） someone else to contact their partner.

Ms Helsper added: "It is clear that internet users do not shy from taking action when they think their partner might be undertaking⁷ activities that they are not comfortable with.

"Whatever the reason for the monitoring, partner surveillance was wider spread than we initially⁸ assumed, with one out of every three couples having at least one partner who monitored the other partner's behaviour using some kind of technological⁴ tool."

The average age of those taking part was 49 and the couples had been married for an average 19 years with 1.6 children.