Being the primary breadwinner is bad for men's happiness and health, study finds

'Men don't get any brownie points for being a breadwinner, it's just the status quo,' says sociologist Christin Munsch

Men who are the main breadwinner for their family risk suffering a decline in their health and psychological wellbeing (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Men who provide the majority of their family’s income take a hit to their health and psychological wellbeing, new research has found.

Data gathered over 15 years from a group of men and women in heterosexual marriages showed men’s levels of health and happiness declined when they took on more financial responsibility than their partner.

This could be down to the psychological impact of ingrained gender roles, Christin Munsch, the University of Connecticut sociologist who led the study, told the Independent.

“The psychological experience of being a breadwinner for men and women is really different. Men don't get any brownie points for being a breadwinner, it's just the status quo,” she said.

“If they lose that, it's seen as an emasculating, bad thing – you're more likely to get teased by your peers saying your wife wears the pants in the family, that sort of thing.

However, when women were the main breadwinner, their psychological wellbeing improved.

“For women, being a breadwinner is not the expectation, so when you are a breadwinner, people look up to that. And if you lose that, you don't become a loser, it's just the status quo.”

Ms Munsch’s study looked into answers given by 3,176 married people aged between 18-32 in the 1997 to 2011 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth.

The sample was chosen to represent a cross-section of the United States population.

Psychological wellbeing was measured through questions relating to happiness, anxiety and depression, such as 'How often do you feel so down that nothing could pick you up?' or 'How often do you feel happy?' said Ms Munsch.

Responses to these questions as well as inquiries into the subject’s health were then analysed in relation to which partner brought the majority of income into the family.

Men’s wellbeing scores took a 5 per cent dip and health scores reduced by 3.5 per cent when they were the primary breadwinners as opposed to taking an equal role in ensuring the family’s financial stability.

“I was surprised, not to find that men have these dips in psychological well-being and health when they are the breadwinner, but that it was different for women,” said Ms Munsch.

The assistant professor of sociology said she and her team had carefully considered a number of variables, such as how much money the couple made in total, to ensure the validity of their findings.

They concluded financial inequality between partners was a major reason for the psychological impact of breadwinning on men.

“There is an element of breadwinning that's stressful, but it's only having health consequences because there's something about you making a lot and your partner not making a lot,” she said.

“It's not about absolute income, it's about how responsible you are for your family's standard of living.”

The study comes more than 40 years after the publication of Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique, the influential feminist study into widespread unhappiness among housewives.

This study shows that following rigid gender roles in heterosexual marriages has a negative impact on men as well as women, said Ms Munsch.

“People think gender roles are super-entrenched, and in some ways they are, but for most of history men and women have worked together, and there hasn't been a homemaker and breadwinner model,” she said.

“I think it's totally possible to eradicate these expectations.”

And, according to other sociological studies, things may already be changing.

“Young people report across the board that they want to be in egalitarian relationships, where both couples contribute equally, financially and do the childcare and domestic responsibility,” said Ms Munsch.

“Given that's what they want, men and women are making these career decisions that are misaligned with their preferences.”

The research will be presented at an American Sociological Association conference in Seattle on Sunday.