By Sandy Wells
KABC News
A husband doesn’t have to make a ton of money to keep his wife happy, but he’d better be employed if the marriage is going to last. That’s what Harvard Sociology Professor Alexandra Killewald has found in her latest studies of marriage American-style.
“One of the things that comes through in the research, is that it isn’t about the money. Even after adjusting for any of the economic consequences that go with unemployment, or not working full-time, there’s still a real effect there of the husband not being employed full time.”
And it isn’t the money, it’s the motion.
“When I look at just the earnings the husband has and whether that’s associated with the risk of divorce, it’s not. It’s just the work hours.”
But the research also showed contemporary wives are off the hook when it comes to housework. Killewald looked at studies of marriage pre-1974, before the feminist revolution took hold in America and found that expectations about household labor have really changed since the middle of the 20th Century and before.
“With those early couples, the more of the housework she did, the more stable the marriage. Now – doesn’t matter.”
Killewald was a guest on 790 KABC’s McIntyre in the Morning Show with Doug McIntyre and Terri-Rae Elmer.
