Higher-Earning Moms Less Likely to Divorce: Study

A recent study shows that moms who are making more bacon may be less likely to split with their significant other.

According to researchers from Leicester University, they studied nearly 4,000 British couples with children. The study authors found that families are 60 percent less likely to split up when mothers earn 20 percent more money than fathers.

For a married couple, this effect is even greater. Study results showed that the risk of a couple divorcing was 80 percent lower if the mother earned 20 percent more than the father. 

"Sociological and economic theories have long predicted that women's increased economic independence would undermine the institution of marriage.

'Previous studies of married couples in the UK provided evidence that women's higher earnings increased the risk of divorce," said Dr. Shireen Kanji of Leicester University, according to the Daily Mail. "We found that influential theories that a woman's higher earnings elevate the risk of divorce are unfounded among contemporary parents in the UK."

Yet the number of higher-earning mothers often falls by the waste-side after a child is born, according to background information from the findings. For instance, the proportion of mothers who earn 20 percent more than fathers dropped from 6 percent to 3.8 percent after their child turned five.

Findings also showed that the number of women who earned the same as their significant others dropped by 11 percent to 4.3 percent during the first five years following their child's birth.

"Our findings show that equal earning, and a mother being a main earner, are not destabilizing influences on relationships, even at an intense time of childcare responsibilities," Kanji said. 

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