The surprising thing that makes couples more likely to divorce

One in three Aussie marriages ends in divorce. Those aren’t great odds for all of us out there who believe in finding our happy ever after.

But new research from the US has pinpointed one surprising thing that’s likely to see couples heading for splitsville – and that’s men who don’t have a full-time job.

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Harvard University sociology professor, Alexandra Killewald studied 6,300 heterosexual couples and found that men who weren’t employed full-time were 33 percent more likely to divorce than the hubbies who did head off to work everyday.

“Contemporary husbands face higher risk of divorce when they do not fulfill the stereotypical breadwinner role, by being employed full-time,” says Alexandra.

While this could impact a relationship in any number of ways, one thing is clear – work-life balance is an issue that affects both men and women.

"Although much of the responsibility for negotiating that balance falls to women, my results suggest one way that expectations about gender and family roles and responsibilities affect men's lives, too: men who aren't able to sustain full-time work face heightened risk of divorce,” says Alexandra.

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