The Christmas period has again proved to be a very busy time for dating sites.
Match normally see a 25 to 30% increase in new members registering between December and February, and this year Lovestruck saw a 56% increase in traffic on Boxing Day.
Match also saw their registrations spike by 50% on Boxing Day, which continued until the beginning of the new year.
A survey by Justin Garcia, a faculty member at Indiana University’s Kinsey Institute and Department of Gender Studies, found that 82% of 1,000 Match customers reported feeling more romantic in the Christmas holidays.
This coincides with more relationships starting, and ending, in the run up to Christmas.
Journalist David McCandless found that people are more likely to break up before Christmas, after scanning 10,000 Facebook statuses.
This was backed up by Garcia’s study, which found 25% of those surveyed had experienced a break-up in the winter months.
Garcia’s study also found that 14% of men and 10% of women begin a relationship to be with someone during the holidays.
He said: “The holidays can be a really stressful time in terms of trying to start new relationships and also getting out of previous relationships.
“If we think of what happens with many Americans this time of year, we’re traveling, we’re spending more money, we’re often getting to see family and friends.
“As much as this can bring a lot of joy and excitement, it can also bring a lot of stress. This combination can be tricky to navigate.
“This is unique to humans. No other animals on the planet are so involved with the mating habits of kin as humans are.”