The study, conducted by Dr Demid Getik, explores how mental health is related to income make-up within couples by examining the link between annual income rises for women and the number of clinical mental health diagnoses over a set period of time.

The study finds that as more women take on the breadwinner role in the household, the number of mental health related incidences also increases.

As wives begin earning more than their husbands, the probability of receiving a mental health diagnosis increases by as much as 8% for all those observed in the study, but by as much as 11% for the men.

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[–] catloaf@lemm.ee 43 points 2 days ago (4 children)

For men, mental health issues that arose as female earnings increased were more likely to be related to substance-related concerns, whereas women were more likely to experience neurotic and stress-related disorders.

I'm not convinced of a causative relationship here (well, at least for the men, it makes sense that working more increases stress on the women's side). It's possible that the woman became the higher earner because of the man's existing substance abuse problem, and/or that the woman becoming a higher earner allowed the man to seek help for the problem.

It's also possible that the substance abuse problem developed after the woman became the higher earner, though I'm not sure why that would happen.

[–] fine_sandy_bottom@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 1 day ago

Yeah correlation is not causation.

These couples might both work more than the control cohort. Any number of explanations.

[–] brygphilomena@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago (1 children)

They can afford it now?

[–] philpo@feddit.org 1 points 1 day ago

Unlikely in Sweden

[–] baronvonj@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago

It’s possible that the woman became the higher earner because of the man’s existing substance abuse problem, and/or that the woman becoming a higher earner allowed the man to seek help for the problem.

It’s also possible that the substance abuse problem developed after the woman became the higher earner, though I’m not sure why that would happen.

I think those are two fair bits of speculation that warrant further study and/or reporting.

[–] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 3 points 2 days ago

It's also possible that the men were self medicating instead of seeking help for underlying conditions.