Happy wife, happy life! Men let their partners win in competitions to maintain ... trends now

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Whether it's a game of Jenga or a round of mini golf, many date nights are centred around a competition. 

Now, a study has revealed that when it comes to these competitions, the old 'happy wife, happy life' adage really does ring true. 

Scientists from the North China University of Science and Technology found that women concentrate harder when competing against strangers than their romantic partner. 

Despite this, they're more likely to win when playing against their partner. 

'Their male partners may be adopting a "happy wife, happy life" mentality, avoiding potential relationship conflict by allowing their spouse to win,' said Shuyu Jia, lead author of the study. 

In the study, the team set out to study how romantic relationships influence female competitiveness. 

'Competition, an essential component of social interaction, frequently occurs in daily life, and the impact of intimate relationships on women's competition has not yet been revealed,' the team explained in their study, published in Neuroscience. 

The researchers enlisted 52 female participants, aged 18-25, who were tasked with completing a visual cue task, which involved competing against a partner to respond to stimuli as quickly as possible. 

The participants were split into two groups, with the first competing against their romantic partner, and the second group competing against strangers.  

While they competed, the participants had their brain activity monitored via EEG. 

The results revealed that the women showed higher levels of concentration while competing against strangers of the opposite gender than when they competed against their partner.