Marriage is MORE stressful for women than having children, says new study

17 September 2019, 19:00

A fifth of women say their main cause of stress is an unsupportive husband. Picture: Getty

One in five wives say the main cause of stress in their lives stems from having an unsupportive husband.

Marriage is more stressful for women than starting a family and bringing up children, a new study has found.

Research by the University of Padova discovered that 75 per cent of women who have already tied the knot are responsible for most of the parenting in their family household, as well as the lion's share of the chores, which results in their main source of frustration.

The findings also stated that dealing with a screaming baby, dirty nappies and the lack of sleep that comes along with having kids is actually less stressful for a married woman than trying to make her committed relationship work.

The Italian study looks at both romantic and familial relationships. Picture: Getty

One in five females interviewed in the process even said their main source of mental pressure stemmed from a lack of support from their spouse.

The research also found that a male partner's health went downhill after the death of their wife, while a female partner's improved as they were often better equipped to deal with the aftermath.

"Widows cope better than widowers with the stress deriving from the loss of a partner," said Dr Caterina Trevisan of the University of Padova.

She told The Telegraph: "Since women generally have a longer lifespan than men, married women may also suffer from the effects of caregiver burden, since they often devote themselves to caring for their husband in later life."

The latest findings support a theory from Paul Dolan, professor of behavioural science at the London School of Economics, who said earlier this year: "Married people are happier than other population subgroups, but only when their spouse is in the room when they’re asked how happy they are. When the spouse is not present: f***ing miserable.

"We do have some good longitudinal data following the same people over time, but I am going to do a massive disservice to that science and just say: if you’re a man, you should probably get married; if you’re a woman, don’t bother."