Retirement News : Seniors : Female breadwinners unhappy leading up to retirement

Female breadwinners unhappy leading up to retirement

Date Added: 09-03-2005

The more money a woman makes in the years leading up to retirement, the less satisfied she will be with her marriage, a report released Tuesday by Statistics Canada says.

In 2001, women who contributed more than 75 per cent of their household's income rated their relationship much lower than those who provided less than 50 per cent.

On the other hand, men who in 2001 provided less than 50 per cent of the household income rated their relationship higher than men who contributed at least 75 per cent. The study suggests that sharing money-making responsibilities with their wives has been a welcome development for some men.

The study looked at couples between the ages of 50 and 74 years, using a “relationship quality scale” to measure the success of the marriages.

This scale was based on communication, conflict and happiness with the relationship. It assigned a value of 9 to the lowest and 35 to the highest. The average score was 30 for both men and women in 2001, barely changing from 1995.

The report also found that older couples are more likely to be satisfied with their marriage when they are both retired.

Couples in which both partners were working or looking for work reported the lowest relationship quality. The report looked at statistics in both 1995 and 2001 and this held true for both years.

According to the report, older couples are generally satisfied with each other, and the older they are, the more likely they are to be more satisfied with their relationship.

In 2001, women who were working while their partners were retired reported significantly lower quality of relationships than women who were retired along with their retired spouses.

Couples in 2001 were much more likely to report having adult children living at home. In both 1995 and 2001, couples with adult children still living at home rated their marriage quality lower than those who had no children at home.

The quality of the relationship fell lower when there were two or more children living at home.

The reasons for this dissatisfaction may have to do with the reasons behind why the children are still at home, not necessarily the fact that they are still living at home.

For More Information:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050308.wmarry0308/BNStory/National/