The Telegraph: Couples who share the housework are more likely to divorce, study finds

If there's one thing I've learned here on ExtremeSkins, you can NOT argue with science (at least that's what I'm telling the wife)!!!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/9572187/Couples-who-share-the-housework-are-more-likely-to-divorce-study-finds.html

Divorce rates are far higher among “modern” couples who share the housework than in those where the woman does the lion’s share of the chores, a Norwegian study has found.

The report found the divorce rate among couples who shared housework equally was around 50 per cent higher than among those where the woman did most of the work. Photo: ALAMY

By Henry Samuel, Paris

10:00PM BST 27 Sep 2012

In what appears to be a slap in the face for gender equality, the report found the divorce rate among couples who shared housework equally was around 50 per cent higher than among those where the woman did most of the work.

“What we’ve seen is that sharing equal responsibility for work in the home doesn’t necessarily contribute to contentment,” said Thomas Hansen, co-author of the study entitled “Equality in the Home”.

The lack of correlation between equality at home and quality of life was surprising, the researcher said.

“One would think that break-ups would occur more often in families with less equality at home, but our statistics show the opposite,” he said.

The figures clearly show that “the more a man does in the home, the higher the divorce rate,” he went on.

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In Norway.

Good luck telling your wife you don't want to take out the trash because you're worried about your marriage and possible divorce.

Hmmmmmm.....gonna show this to my wife....

They don't explain the why.

Not sure divorce rates are a great indicator of quality of life or contentment. A lot of people who get divorced have their quality of life go way up.

Are the divorce rates higher among progressives? Women who work? I'd bet they are. A woman who works is probably a lot more comfortable ending a marriage than a woman who is very dependent on her husband for money. It's a lot easier to make a drastic life change when you know you can absolutely take care of yourself.

Not sure divorce rates are a great indicator of quality of life or contentment. A lot of people who get divorced have their quality of life go way up.

Are the divorce rates higher among progressives? Women who work? I'd bet they are. A woman who works is probably a lot more comfortable ending a marriage than a woman who is very dependent on her husband for money. It's a lot easier to make a drastic life change when you know you can absolutely take care of yourself.

This, plus the stress level in a family where both parents have to work (and thus both have to pitch in on chores) is probably higher than a family where only one person has to work, reducing the amount of chores that need to be done at night, on weekends, etc.

This, plus the stress level in a family where both parents have to work (and thus both have to pitch in on chores) is probably higher than a family where only one person has to work, reducing the amount of chores that need to be done at night, on weekends, etc.

Yep, plus the defined roles eliminates strife or one not doing enough

stevemcqueen1 nailed it

correlation /=/ causation

Wives who let their husbands walk all over them are also unlikely to be able to seek a divorce, from a psychological point of view.

I'll wait and see what the experts say about this study... Jumbo?

Looks like a great way for a researcher to get in the news.

Where is the study? What are the numbers? How many marriages did they look at? What methodology did they use to define a marriage where a woman does a "lion's share of the chores"?

On the surface, I'd say it is not a surprise that marriages in which a man dominates the relationship and/or marriages in which a woman is heavily dependent upon the man would be less likely to end up in a divorce.

Yep, plus the defined roles eliminates strife or one not doing enough

stevemcqueen1 nailed it

uhm... he didn't say at all the same thing that you did, did he?

but yeah stevem, dfitz and predicto nailed it. there is a TON of endogeneity in this sort of data, of the sorts that dfitz and predicto nailed... additionally, groups that are much more likely to divide chores along those older more traditional lines (religious conservatives, for instance, and older generations) are ALSO going to be much more resistant to divorce (for better of for worse, as predicto and stevemcq point out)

this study at first glance would appear to really fall under the "pillows cause pregnancy" type of analysis (since pillows were present at 95% of pregnancy conceptions... pillows cause pregnancy--- the "better" (and actual) very related study was the one that trumpeted the fact that "rock and roll" (an old study, obviously-- the devil's rock and roll) caused teen decay in morals because rock music was being played while xxx% of teen out of wedlock pregnancies were conceived.

people generally suck at statistics.

The researcher laid down a pretty good hypothesis for his own research. Couples that are more modern about splitting housework are more modern in others areas of life too:

1) The woman is likely more educated/independent.

2) They probably feel less stigmatized about being divorced.

I'll wait and see what the experts say about this study... Jumbo?

As an expert modern interpretative and Baltic folk dancer, I dunno yet about that exact study (real work approaches quickly and I haven't read the article or the rest of the thread yet :pfft:) but the article title prompts a raised eyebrow as worded regarding the differences between correlations (if accurately obtained) and cause. Of course, that newspaper also has developed a definite slant and style applied to whom it's aimed at hooking and seems to carefully contour its material for its audience most of the time. It may or may not apply in this case (someday a liberal WILL start a thread from this source ---just playin' ).

Just in general, though, it's worth noting that many marriages benefit most from distinctions of individual duties (i.e. people "playing to their particular strengths") in household maintenance in order to form a more functional and pleasing "whole." There's not just some universal "we must share all household duties as equally as possible" template that knowledgeable competent professionals would apply IME.

As usual in most cases, ongoing communication with (mutually) clearly defined, clearly stated, and clearly agreed-to understandings, and cooperation/feedback/adjustment, are key for best success in any marriage, no matter which forms (within reason) the operational structures take.

I'd like to consider all the preceding to be "common sense" but I have found that too often it isn't the case.

Personally, I did marriage (respectable length), have no slams on the institution, but have really enjoyed the wide range of options in remaining unmarried for several decades.

So many questions ... authoritarian versus equality and dependency .. equal division of the same tasks and 'inteference', or distribution and clarity of ownership.

My wife doesn't like me washing pans, doing laundry, and I sometimes fail at loading the dishwasher correctly. But she doesn't have a problem with the quality of my yardwork, vacuuming, dishwasher unloading or trash/recycle chores.

uhm... he didn't say at all the same thing that you did, did he?

which would be the reason for the plus :pfft:

the fact it works does not make it ideal

So many questions ... authoritarian versus equality and dependency .. equal division of the same tasks and 'inteference', or distribution and clarity of ownership.

My wife doesn't like me washing pans, doing laundry, and I sometimes fail at loading the dishwasher correctly. But she doesn't have a problem with the quality of my yardwork, vacuuming, dishwasher unloading or trash/recycle chores.

Seriously, what is the deal with guys NOT knowing how to load the dishwasher lol??? It has to be one of the easiest household chores, yet most guys absolutely stink at it!

Hmmmmmm.....gonna show this to my wife....

She said, "fine you do it all then".

I'm questioning the usefulness of this study.

She said, "fine you do it all then".

I'm questioning the usefulness of this study.

:rotflmao:

Seriously, what is the deal with guys NOT knowing how to load the dishwasher lol??? It has to be one of the easiest household chores, yet most guys absolutely stink at it!

Watch it. I apply advanced engineering principles, she just wings it.

If I had my way, any dishware we buy would be based on their design to best meet the needs of cleaning and storage.

My wife buys **** because it looks nice. :doh:

Watch it. I apply advanced engineering principles, she just wings it.

If I had my way, any dishware we buy would be based on their design to best meet the needs of cleaning and storage.

My wife buys **** because it looks nice. :doh:

So basically you're saying you'd buy a bunch of paper cups and plates

So basically you're saying you'd buy a bunch of paper cups and plates

I'd eat straight out of the pan using my hands, but paper is a good substitute if we have guests.

Seriously, what is the deal with guys NOT knowing how to load the dishwasher lol??? It has to be one of the easiest household chores, yet most guys absolutely stink at it!

My wife is from Peru and she never had a dishwashing machine in her country. I had to show HER how to load the dishwasher.

This is why my wife and I, fully devoted to each other, are happily pre-divorced.

It makes sharing the housework so much less stressful!

Seriously, what is the deal with guys NOT knowing how to load the dishwasher lol??? It has to be one of the easiest household chores, yet most guys absolutely stink at it!

Are you kidding? Dishwasher loading is straight up spacial reasoning. I can literally fit twice as much stuff in there as my wife, and everything washes well because I carefully calculate water stream trajectories:dunce: when I hear the thing running and I know I didn't load it, I expect to find 3-5 horizontally placed items in there. It used to get me but I've learned to live with it.

Well that settles it, time to go home and get to work!

Seriously, what is the deal with guys NOT knowing how to load the dishwasher lol??? It has to be one of the easiest household chores, yet most guys absolutely stink at it!

I wonder this as well. Guys generally like fixing stuff, working with their hands, putting stuff together, etc. Loading the dishwasher is basically just putting something together. Yet somehow they manage to just throw **** in there like a tornado came through while they were doing it.