Don’t Blame Divorce on Money. Ask: Did the Husband Have a Job?

[Independent voter]

New study shows that money is less important than employment when it comes to relationship bliss. Maybe the wife's just tired of the lazy husband lying around the house all day and playing video games. If I'm unemployed I feel a lot of pressure and not all of it from the gf, family too.





http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...itter-business

Financial stress and fights over money can eat away at a marriage. But do they cause divorce? That’s a more complicated matter.

A Harvard University study suggests that neither financial strains nor women's increased ability to get out of an unhappy marriage, starting in the 1970s, is typically the main reason for a split.

The big factor, Harvard sociology professor Alexandra Killewald found, is the husband's employment status. For the past four decades, she discovered, husbands who aren’t employed full time have a 3.3 percent chance of getting divorced in any given year, compared with 2.5 percent for husbands employed full time. In other words, their marriages are one-third more likely to break up.


Examining 46 years of data on more than 6,300 married couples in the U.S., Killewald found a big shift in the risk of divorce in the mid-1970s. Couples married before 1975 were likelier to split up if women and men divided the housework equally, perhaps because the husband saw a threat to his traditional role in the household. Since 1975, housework hasn’t been much of a factor. The guy's job has.

“Wives have more freedom in how they ‘do’ marriage,” Killewald said, but husbands are still expected to be the breadwinner.

The study, published in the American Sociological Review, didn't include same-sex couples. Nor did it address men who choose to stay home with the kids. The vast majority of men without a full-time job in the sample were involuntarily unemployed.

Killewald had to untangle a couple's working life—employment status, willingness to do housework—from their finances to see which of the two was the greater factor in divorce. She used a larger set of census data to predict wives’ economic dependence on their marriages—how much they would lose if they got divorced.




Her conclusion: The couples’ income and the wives’ economic independence didn't correlate with a higher risk of divorce.

That's surprising, said New York University sociology professor Paula England, but she said she finds the study's methodology "very sound" and its conclusions convincing.

"I'm sure that financial strain hurts people's well-being, but it doesn't seem to be causing marriage breakup," England said.

What did correlate with divorce in Killewald's study? How a couple spends their time.

Wives spent 3.9 times as many hours as men doing housework in 1975, according to a 2012 study. More recently, in 2009 and 2010 data, wives were working around the house 1.7 times as long as their husbands—that is, still 70 percent more.

Couples married before 1975 who split the housework 50-50 were about 36 percent likelier to get divorced than couples in which the wives did three-quarters of the housework, Killewald found. Since 1975, however, there’s almost no correlation between the housework split and the marriage split.

Meanwhile, a husband’s job seems to matter more now. For couples married before 1975, the husband’s employment status barely affected their chances of divorce. It's the decades since 1975 that saw a dramatic increase in correlation between his job status and their risk of divorce.

It's hard to know whether husbands or wives are deciding to split in these cases, but England notes that previous studies have shown about two-thirds of divorces are initiated by women.

So what happened in 1975? Killewald said she saw similar changes when she divided her data at various points in the 1980s. Other sociological studies have suggested something did happen in the 1970s that changed men's and women’s attitudes toward work and marriage.

“The late 1970s were really a time of change in what women expected for their careers,” Killewald said. What hasn’t changed nearly as much is the role men are supposed to play as husbands.

[Aori]

I didn't have a job when I was left. I firmly believe women in general can't handle being the breadwinner.

[Azadina]

I didn't have a job when I was left. I firmly believe women in general can't handle being the breadwinner.

It's mostly just not watching laziness ^^

[Aoyi]

I didn't have a job when I was left. I firmly believe women in general can't handle being the breadwinner.

My wife has handled being the breadwinner now for the last 9 months. I've been on medical leave for that amount of time and will still be for at least another 4 months while undergoing treatment. My wife doesn't care about earning the money. She only cares that I get better. There are a lot of factors that can contribute to divorce. As long as one party isn't at home playing games all day and ignoring bills/housework, I don't think it really matters who is working as long as you are being respectful to your partner and can get by financially.

[Masark]

I firmly believe women in general can't handle being the breadwinner.

And my mother will tell you that you're an idiot.

[Revi]

Being at home all day isn't good for a relationship.

[Theodarzna]

Seems strange, how often do divorces happen because the wife leaves her job?

[Captain N]

Being at home all day isn't good for a relationship.

This applies to both sexes.

[Aori]

It's mostly just not watching laziness ^^

I'm sure that is it, you've figured it out, men are just lazy.

[Phookah]

... This is a Harvard study? Really?
Let me help you Harvard

Yes, financial problems can put a strain on a relationship and your personal well-being.
Yes, this can cause a marriage to break up.

I hope this has helped, next time ask before spending god-knows-how much money on a study like this.

Sincerely, Every Person In The World Who Has Ever Been In A Relationship Ever

[Celista]

A 0.8 percent difference in divorce rates between unemployed men and those working full-time is not a big difference, despite the misleading wording in the article.

[Azadina]

I'm sure that is it, you've figured it out, men are just lazy.

Some are. What do you intend to do about it?

[Kapadons]

It's mostly just not watching laziness ^^

I typically work 55-63 hours per week, and when I was younger would spend my 1 day off sleeping until noon then playing WoW and it would piss my wife off so bad when she would get home from work. Even though I was putting mad ass hours in at work, that one day of doing nothing would always bug her. I think hers was the same thing, just me being lazy all day long.

[Grulug]

You weren't being lazy, you were resting Kapadons.

[Azadina]

I typically work 55-63 hours per week, and when I was younger would spend my 1 day off sleeping until noon then playing WoW and it would piss my wife off so bad when she would get home from work. Even though I was putting mad ass hours in at work, that one day of doing nothing would always bug her. I think hers was the same thing, just me being lazy all day long.

How is working a job the same as sitting home drinking beer all day long, while being unemployed?

[Berengil]

I typically work 55-63 hours per week, and when I was younger would spend my 1 day off sleeping until noon then playing WoW and it would piss my wife off so bad when she would get home from work. Even though I was putting mad ass hours in at work, that one day of doing nothing would always bug her. I think hers was the same thing, just me being lazy all day long.

Should have told her to go f herself. You work that kind of hours, she should be thanking you.


As to the subject of the thread: aside from medical disability, there is no excuse for not having some kind of job. Even if its some sucky garbage while you spend your time off looking for something you like to do.

[Cthulhu 2020]

Ambition is sexy. Laziness makes me limp. Sorry housewife hopefuls.

[sheggaro]

This doesn't surprise anyone who doesn't buy the liberal interpretation of genders.

Women want a provider, it's in their dna, a man that they have to provide for is the most unattrative thing imaginable.

[Sunseeker]

A 0.8 percent difference in divorce rates between unemployed men and those working full-time is not a big difference, despite the misleading wording in the article.

This. Statistically, it should be questioned if a difference exists at all, since even EXCELLENT studies have a 2-3 point margin.

That said: big surprise, lazy fuckers and whiny bitches aren't attractive. Regardless of the quality of your pecs, the size of your cock or how nice your T&A is.

[endersblade]

Being at home all day isn't good for a relationship.

And yet for decades, maybe even centuries I guess, we as a society have had zero issue with the woman staying home.

Your post is null and void and means nothing.

When I was engaged, my fiance wanted me to get out of the Navy (she was also enlisted) and be a stay at home husband. She had absolutely no issues with it, and it was HER idea. I actually planned on staying in long enough to retire.

I really think it just depends on the people. If the woman is busting her ass all day at work and has to come home to take care of the husband who has ALSO been at home all day doing absolutely nothing, sure, that can lead to a divorce. However, some people would just put up with it for various reasons. Of course the reverse is true as well. I can't imagine men like coming home to a lazy wife either.