Are you always getting nagged to take out the garbage? Are you constantly pushing your partner to get the dishes done? Is your "honey-do" list more accurately a "honey-didn't" list?
A new study on labour in the household suggests those issues are small potatoes when it comes to long-term marriage stability, as it's far more important for the man to stick to his traditional breadwinner role than it is for him to do his chores.
Men who do not have a full-time job are more likely to be divorced than those who are gainfully employed, and the division of labour at home does not impact marriage stability, according to the study from Harvard University.
But while the traditional "breadwinner" role appears to remain important in a marriage, it's not all about the money the man is making, according to study author Alexandra Killewald.
"It's really about the work itself – whether he's in that full-time job or not," Killewald, a professor of sociology, told Â鶹´«Ã½ Channel on Wednesday. She said the household income and the man's salary are not contributing factors to a marriage's health, but it is important for the man to work. She added that while the man is expected to work, the woman's choice to work or stay at home does not have an impact on the long-term health of the marriage.
"It suggests that couples can combine paid and unpaid work in a variety of ways and still have a healthy marriage," she said of the study.
Killewald based her findings off a collection of surveys conducted over several decades, divided up into couples married before 1975 and those married in '75 or later. She found that couples in the older cohort reported more stability when the woman did chores around the house. However, that perception appears to have "eroded" over time, and was not a factor for those married in 1975 or later.
"How the couple divides the housework doesn't appear to be a big predictor (of divorce)," Killwald said. A woman's ability to support herself outside the marriage was also not considered a contributing factor, according to Killewald.
"Money just doesn't seem to be the most important thing."
Killewald's findings are published in the August edition of the journal. Same-sex couples were not included in the study "because of insufficient sample size."
