Being a parent is definitely hard work, but research finds that making a marriage work is actually twice as stressful as raising a family. A study from the University of Padova in Italy reveals that 75% of female participants report that they end up doing most of the parenting and household duties.
Researcher Dr. Caterina Trevisan says having a wife may have benefits for men in terms of household management and healthcare, but on the flip side, women are "more likely to feel stressed and find their role restrictive and frustrating.” And since women tend to live longer than men, married women often also have the stress of becoming caregivers for their partners later in life.
Widows have been found to cope better than widowers when their spouses pass away because men tend to rely on their wives more heavily. Studies have shown that women are able to handle the stress of losing a partner better, which researchers believe is because they’re better at expressing their emotions and have better coping skills. All of this helps explain why women who lose their husbands have less stress than women with living spouses and how they may actually get healthier after becoming widows.
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