Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and Bar-Ilan University in Israel have discovered an inconvenient¹ truth about our female family members.

美国加州大学伯克利分校和以色列巴伊兰大学的研究人员发现了一个和女性家庭成员有关的难以忽视的真相。

Wives, sisters and mothers are more likely to be the most difficult people in our lives, according to a survey of 1,100 respondents who described more than 12,000 relationships.

调查显示，妻子、姐妹和母亲是我们生活中最难相处的人。在这项调查中，1100名受访者描述了超12000段感情关系。

Women may be guilty of doing the lion's share of whining², nagging³ and controlling in relationships, but the study noted⁵ that it's for a good reason.

也许在感情关系中抱怨、唠叨、管东管西的基本都是女人，但是研究也指出，女人的这种表现是情有可原的。

Female family members were most often labeled as difficult because they're usually emotionally invested in relatives' lives.

很多时候，女性家庭成员都被贴上难以相处的标签，因为她们往往对亲人的生活投入了很多感情。

The respondents included people ranging in age from their early 20s to their 70s, all of which were San Francisco Bay Area residents. More than half of respondents were female.

受访者的年龄跨度从20出头到70多岁，他们都居住在旧金山港湾区。超半数受访者为女性。

'The message here is that, with female relatives, it can be a two-sided thing,' said Claude Fischer, a senior author of the study.

该研究的一名资深作者克劳德•费舍尔说：“这一研究报告要传达的信息是，女性亲人所带来的影响是两面性的。”

'They may be the people you most depend on, but also the people who nag⁴ you the most.'

“她们也许是你最依赖的人，但也是最爱唠叨你的人。”

'It's a testament⁶ to their deeper engagement in social ties,' Fischer added.

费舍尔补充说：“这些唠叨证明了她们在社会关系中的深入参与。”

Overall, respondents said they considered about 15% of their relationships to be difficult.

总体来说，受访者称，他们认为自己大概有15%的感情关系是困难的。

Siblings⁷, spouses⁸, aging parents and colleagues were also lumped into the 'difficult' category, though next of kin⁹ were considered more annoying.

姐妹、配偶、年迈的父母和同事也被归入“困难”一类，其中最近的血亲更难以相处。

Friends, meanwhile, were least likely to be difficult, accounting¹⁰ for roughly 7% of respondents 'annoying' relationships.

与此同时，朋友是最好相处的，只有约7%的受访者将朋友归入“烦人”一类。

'The results suggest that difficult people are likely to be found in contexts where people have less freedom to pick and choose their associates,' said Shira Offer, the author of the study.

该研究的作者希拉•欧弗尔说：“结果显示，难以相处的人通常都是那些人们没有太多选择自由、不得不在一起的人。”

The data was collected as part of a wide-ranging study, called the University of California Social Networks study, launched in 2015, which aims to look at how people's social connections affect their health and happiness.

采集的数据将被用于一个名为“加州大学社会网络研究”的大范围研究，该研究于2015年发起，目的是观察人们的社会关系是如何影响他们的健康和幸福的。

Researchers involved in the Social Networks study found that social ties can be as stressful as they are joyful.

参加社会网络研究的研究人员发现，社会关系可以压力和快乐并存。

In particular, older people were more likely consider relationships with co-workers or acquaintances as difficult.

研究人员还发现，年长的人更可能会觉得与同事或熟人的关系难以相处。

'Whether it's an alcoholic¹¹ father whom you want to cut ties with, an annoying friend with whom you have a long history or an overbearing boss, relationships are complicated and in many cases unavoidable,' Fischer said.

费舍尔说：“无论是你想断绝关系的酗酒的父亲，还是你有多年交情的讨厌的朋友，或者盛气凌人的老板，人际关系是复杂的，而且在很多情况下都是不可避免的。”