Wives Earning More Than Husbands Linked To Rising Mental Health Diagnoses In Couples
Wives Earning More Than Husbands Linked To Rising Mental Health Diagnoses In Couples
Women becoming the breadwinner of the family can result in a higher likelihood of mental health issues for both husbands and wives, research from Durham University Business School reveals. The study, conducted by Dr Demid [...]
The study, conducted by Dr Demid Getik, explores how mental health is related to income make-up within couples by examining the link between annual income rises for women and the number of clinical mental health diagnoses over a set period of time.
The study finds that as more women take on the breadwinner role in the household, the number of mental health related incidences also increases.
As wives begin earning more than their husbands, the probability of receiving a mental health diagnosis increases by as much as 8% for all those observed in the study, but by as much as 11% for the men.
Yes, the link is this:
When all the adults in the household have to work 40+ hours a week, plus commute, plus all the adulting...they get sad since this is fucking toxic.
Also no one has time for civics.
Also no one has time to parent, so the kids are sad too.
If we're looking at mental health problems, lets look here first.
For men, mental health issues that arose as female earnings increased were more likely to be related to substance-related concerns, whereas women were more likely to experience neurotic and stress-related disorders.
I'm not convinced of a causative relationship here (well, at least for the men, it makes sense that working more increases stress on the women's side). It's possible that the woman became the higher earner because of the man's existing substance abuse problem, and/or that the woman becoming a higher earner allowed the man to seek help for the problem.
It's also possible that the substance abuse problem developed after the woman became the higher earner, though I'm not sure why that would happen.
I've experienced a man in my life being really fucking salty and super dickish about my successful career. It isn't a husband or SO, but my stepfather. The man who, until recently, has been a great father figure.
I can't talk about work around him without his mood immediately souring. Idk if he's jealous that I have some disposable income and that I am making a little less than he is and I'm only 3 years into my career as opposed to his 25, but it's really discouraging.
Finances are very tight for him and my mother and it's almost entirely his fault because he is terrible with money. It's really sad to see him act this way. According to my mom, he has bitched to my grandma (his mom) about me taking up horseback riding and doing things with my new friends because it can be expensive. My grandma yelled at him over it and said that me doing new things and socializing is very good and she supports it. Idk why he thinks my finances are his business either. Ugh. The man is so frustrating.
Sorry for ranting. Guess I really needed to get all that out lol.
Men that are upset that their wives out-earn them are missing the point of marriage. The point of marriage isn't him vs her, its the two of you together against the world. If she is earning more than him, then that benefits him too because he's part of the marriage.
I'm constantly astonished when I hear of men that are upset by their wives out-earning them. Some of these men have even sabotaged their wife's work or changed the circumstances at home preventing her from continuing in the job where she out-earns him. My only hope for these women is they realize their husband's love is conditional on him being dominant over her, and that she seeks out a better future where she can be her best self.
Was talking to a cute girl at a New Years Eve party, and it came out that while I made a nice amount for doing very little work, she made even more but had to do a lot of work. I went straight to daydreaming about being a stay-at-home Dad so hard I almost fell off my chair.
Dudes, more money means more money, why on earth would having more money upset you???
Men who are uncomfortable with their wives earning more money are also probably more prone to feeling some stigma around addressing their own mental health issues
Oh for fucks sake. No wonder this study is ridiculous. It's an economist trying to make inferences on mental health. The only actual data he had is a correlation in mental health diagnoses and women earning significantly* more. (Number not defined)
He has no evidence for causation. He does no work to get rid of confounding factors like toxic masculinity's famous dislike of therapy. He just sees a rise in the pure number of diagnoses and says women earning more is bad for the mental health of both people in a marriage. He doesn't even bother to check what the diagnoses are, or look for any kind of severity. For all we know the finding here could be that women who earn more and men who are willing to be with them seek counseling earlier than couples where the man makes more.
This is shit science.
Specifically on women's mental health deteriorating in this situation, often this can occur when she's still expected to pick up the majority (or all) of domestic labor in addition to her well-paying job. Women are still largely expected to "do it all" by not only their partners but by society. If you're not a perfect businesswoman, mother, and domestic servant all in one all the time, well you're failing your spouse, your children, your boss, your identity as a woman, etc. Women don't just need their male partners to step up for them in labor alone, but also to reevaluate their social role that they are propagating through their (in)actions. What are you teaching your kid if mom is the only one who cooks dinner? Or cleans regularly without reminders? Or keeps track of doctor's visits, field trips, etc?
This has to depend on the guy. My ex, he always made less $ than me because I went to college after having kids and got a better job, then asked him if he wanted to do the same he said no, and we made enough as long as we both worked, it wasn't anything we really thought about, only about hours worked by each of us. Now when he was unemployed it all went to hell, but not as long as he worked at all. I valued his work, not the wage.
My husband, he wants to make more than me but sees it as a challenge, he wants me to make more money, because it would motivate him to make more money, he just wants us to have more money. He is very happy for me to succeed, and I'm valued for contributions at home and making money, and (critically important) he does as much as me around the house, and our busy work seasons aren't at the same time so we are able to support each other during those months. I do think it's a sexist thing (he does too but still feels it) but don't actually care, it works fine for us in practice.
Please Lord let me find a woman that makes the same as me and I'll happily retire a Pinterest mom and support her career. I love my kid, my home, my time, my flexibility, optimizing systems with cart blanche..
Been divorced since forever, and with age comes wisdom. I think it would be fantastic if I had a high earning wife. Really..
My wife easily does 80% or more of the housework. She makes less than half what I do. The thing is, she only works 40 hours or so a week compared to my 60 or so. I'm not glorifying my overwork, I hate that I work so much. I'm also out of town during the week days more than half the time.
I would be thrilled if she made more than me. We could hire a cleaning service and we would be so happy. This shit is insane and probably bad science.
Maybe this happens because the woman who earns more often emasculates her husband with snide remarks or jabs. Unlike the other way round where men are expected to earn more than their spouse otherwise they're "less of a man".
Maybe that's contributing to the higher mental health issues.
