Marrying someone from your own profession is likely to lead to longer working hours for both and a poorer work-life balance, psychologists claim.

Those with very different careers tend have a better work-life balance, a new study of 650 academics has found.

According to the study, reported in The Daily Telegraph, spouses who work in similar jobs are more likely to work long hours and be more committed to their profession.

This meant that they were able to devote less time to their private life and that the boundaries between the home and the office became more blurred, it was claimed.

The study was presented yesterday at the British Psychological Society Division of Occupational Psychology Annual Conference in Chester.

Researchers interviewed 291 academics whose partners worked in the same profession along with 350 who were in relationships with people in different professions in order to assess how having a husband or wife with a similar job might impact on work-life balance.

They analysed how effectively couples were able to separate their work and personal lives, how long each partner typically spent at work and how committed they were to their job.

The study found that academic couples were more likely to struggle with their work-life balance, spend longer in the office and put more emphasis on their careers than academics whose partners had different jobs.

A follow-up survey, comprising 32 online interviews with academics whose partners worked in the same field, established that having a similar job to your partner could have benefits as well as risks, however.

Results suggested that although couples whose jobs are similar might sometimes let their work stray into their personal life, they were also more supportive of each other when this happened.

Prof Gail Kinman, of the University of Bedfordshire, said there was an increasing trend for people to find partners in the same profession, in particular for younger people employed in the education sector.

She said: “The findings of these studies suggest that doing similar work to your partner means that work issues are more likely to “spill over” into home life and threaten work-life balance.

“However, evidence was also found that having a partner who does similar work can be beneficial as this can enhance mutual understanding of working conditions and increase support during stressful times.

“Nonetheless, the findings suggest that work-linked couples may need more support to help them set boundaries between work and home.”