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Wednesday, May 26, 2010, 9:00 AM

As study of tens of thousands of couples in Britain, Germany and Australia reveals that a happiness gap between spouses was a predictor of divorce—but only when the husband was feeling better about life than his wife:

The happiness gap widened when wives were lumbered with most of the housework, if they had different social backgrounds to their husbands, or if they had higher than average incomes.

But the gap was closed when couples were matched in social backgrounds, if they had a common religion [especially if Catholic, the authors note], if the chores were shared or if the woman was a housewife, a student or retired.

Read more . . .

4 Comments

    Mrs. Jackson
    May 26th, 2010 | 9:35 am

    We needed a study? Didn’t Shakespeare cover this?

    Dale B.
    May 26th, 2010 | 9:36 am

    This will probably get me in trouble…
    The wise man said:
    “If mama aint happy, aint nobody happy.
    If daddy aint happy…nobody cares!”

    JB in CA
    May 26th, 2010 | 2:12 pm

    So if I put together the comments of Dale B and Mrs. Jackson, can I conclude that Dale B is quoting Shakespeare?

    Pastor Spomer
    May 26th, 2010 | 3:45 pm

    I would guess that the husband is the happier of the two in 80% of the marriages.

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