Along with the emotional toll of divorce, separating couples often face financial devastation. But there may be a simple way to avoid both – put more time in at the coalface. A new study by the Melbourne Institute found men who work long hours are no more likely to put their marriage at risk than anyone else.
Indeed, the incidence of a break-up is relatively low among couples where the man is working more than 40 hours each week.
According to the institute’s Professor Mark Wooden: “The optimal work arrangement appears to be where the man works a 41 to 49-hour week. Beyond this the risk of separation does rise, but it is still lower than for couples where the male works a 35 to 40-hour work week.”
In an environment of rising unemployment the findings may be reassuring to men who are spending more time at work in a bid to impress the boss. But while long work hours may not harm our love lives, they can certainly be detrimental to good health, especially if you’re a smoker.
The same study identified a significant association between long hours of work and smoking, but only among men. The theory goes that long hours at work act as a barrier to quitting.
Just something to think about.
This was totally true for my husband and I. We were fighting all the time and on the brink of divorce before he got a new job with longer and more regular hours. I don’t think it was the longer hours that helped so much as the good income- but something changed, and it was almost immediate in nature. It was like a switxh was flipped, and everything got better. I’m just sayin’ I m proof of this statistic.