Husband, Don’t Be Happier than Your Wife

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.

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