Do you spy on your partner’s emails?

A fifth of spouses confessed to spying on their partner's emails or text messages in a new study. The study showed eight per cent of men and 14 per cent of women had read their spouses emails.

A fifth of spouses confessed to spying on their partner's emails or text messages in a new British study.

Researchers from the London School of Economics, the University of Oxford and Nottingham Trent University, quizzed nearly 1,000 UK couples and found that in a fifth of relationships, at least one partner had checked their spouse's browser history on the computer.

The study, entitled 'Netiquette within married couples', showed eight per cent of men and 14 per cent of women had read their spouses emails, seven per cent of men and 13 per cent of women said they had done the same with text messages, The Telegraph reported.

Lead author Ellen Helsper said: "Our findings showed that there are surprisingly high levels of surveillance. 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 technologically skilled than men. It seems that they are able to overcome these barriers when they feel their relationship is at stake."

She added: "It is clear that internet users do not shy from taking action when they think their partner might be undertaking activities that they are not comfortable with. Whatever the reason for the monitoring, partner surveillance was wider spread than we initially assumed, with one out of every three couples having at least one partner who monitored the other partner's behaviour using some kind of technological tool.''