this post was submitted on 06 Jan 2025
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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.

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[–] fnrir@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

[Translation: Correlation does not equal causation.]

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 44 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] restingboredface@sh.itjust.works 6 points 14 hours ago

Yep. The guy got a large publicly available dataset (or one his university had access to) and mined it for interesting results to get a publication.

[–] xorollo@leminal.space 27 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Perhaps households where women earn more money are also made of people where the male partner feels more comfortable seeking mental health resources. Or perhaps they have better insurance and can afford it.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 10 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

I would suggest that "Wives earning more than husbands" isn't the issue so much as "Cost of living is outpacing household earnings and men have been conditioned through generations of patriarchy to believe this is a personal failing rather than a broad economic shift".

If your wife is bringing in seven figures, I doubt the husband will lose much sleep. But if you're looking at a $30k paycheck to your wife's $40k paycheck, and you both acknowledge the total isn't enough to live on, there's a lot of anxiety to go around in that situation.

[–] xorollo@leminal.space 3 points 18 hours ago

Agreed. I don't think it's about wives earning more than their husbands at all.

[–] blazeknave@lemmy.world 8 points 18 hours ago

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..

[–] jpreston2005@lemmy.world 14 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

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???

[–] Maggoty@lemmy.world 3 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

I'm willing to bet it's selection bias. They have more time for therapy and openness to the idea. It's one of those studies that just looks at the numbers at the top of everything. X couples got divorced, Y people sought counseling, etc.

The most they can say is there's an increased correlation in seeking mental help.

[–] randomdeadguy@lemmy.world 1 points 18 hours ago

more money is not the goal of a long term relationship or at least, ought not be. I hope this person had other attractive qualities in addition to freeing you from working.

[–] uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone 45 points 1 day ago (2 children)

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.

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[–] MutilationWave@lemmy.world 1 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

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.

[–] Kanda@reddthat.com 1 points 10 hours ago

It keeps coming up and 'experts' profess this occasionally. I'm too lazy to check the actual science, so I'll never know.

[–] LaunchesKayaks@lemmy.world 37 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] baronvonj@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago

Well I hope there was some catharsis to your comment! That sucks you're being subjected to it. Good for grandma having your back!

[–] neidu3@sh.itjust.works 186 points 1 day ago (11 children)

Any chance this correlates with finally being able to afford mental health care?

[–] Sibbo@sopuli.xyz 67 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This guy understands how the world works.

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[–] baronvonj@lemmy.world 121 points 1 day ago (32 children)

Society needs to normalize households women being successful.

An image with the text "Date: Would you ever become a house husband if I made over $250k/year?" answered by "Me:"  with a picture of Sponge Bob wearing a French maid outfit and carrying a drink on a tray

[–] neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

My only problem with this personally is what if something terrible happens and the wife is no longer in the picture. Then, my house husband skills wouldn’t help me land a decent paying job.

Welcome to the reality of every stay at home mom ever

Seriously though, I’d be absolutely fucking fine if I was a househusband.

[–] TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone 53 points 1 day ago (4 children)

I wanna be a house husband so bad yo I'd be so good at it I can cook and clean good enough to please anyone's grandma and I can manage a household like a pro

Lemme stop working lemme decorate a fucking great room and meal prep for my loved ones FUCK

[–] sir_pronoun@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

Trad husband. Based

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[–] circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org 31 points 1 day ago (3 children)

This is really sad, tbh.

I personally would be freaking stoked. Would love to be a stay at home hubs, too.

[–] Shou@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago

It's genuinely upsetting. The option to be a house wife/husband is becoming rarer. Everyone needs to work to provide enough for the household. House hubbies are lucky men.

[–] BranBucket@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Dude, me too, and I would kill at it.

Sadly, based on skills and the job market where we're at, I can make more working.

[–] greenhorn@lemm.ee 3 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Same. My skillset and interests align with being a house spouse, not making money. Single tho, and trying to make a beautiful home while working full time leads to many compromises

[–] BranBucket@lemmy.world 3 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

That's what we found out.

My wife enjoys her work, finds it rewarding, etc. etc. and has never been really content as a homemaker. My job is alright, but I don't feel any real passion for it, and I don't need a work atmosphere or to be around a lot of people to stay engaged. I'm happy just keeping things organized and running smoothly in my own little corner of the world.

I make just a little less than we need for her to stay home, and she makes peanuts in comparison.

It really hacks me off. She works in education, what she does is far more important to the well-being of society than what I do. If our paychecks were reversed, and they honestly should be reversed, I'd be happy to stay home or work part time but it's just not financially feasible.

oh yeah but I would not want that much pressure on my wife. Would want to make enough to at least get us by in a pinch.

[–] AmazingAwesomator@lemmy.world 39 points 1 day ago (2 children)

i want my wife to earn more than me; she sure deserves it. she has a higher education and a job that actually matters to humanity. i have a desk job that makes computers go beep. its absurd how low her pay is :(

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[–] catloaf@lemm.ee 42 points 1 day ago (5 children)

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.

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[–] LodeMike@lemmy.today 22 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Remember, this is diagnoses. My guess is that its a "owning a horse make you healthier" thing again.

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