Working Moms Are More Supportive Than Working Dads, Study Suggests

Despite the fact that moms are constantly drowning in stress, they still go above and beyond for their family and coworkers. Don’t believe it? There are two new studies to prove it.

The studies were published in the Harvard Business Review, and analyzed how the demands and amount of support received at work or at home affected the amount of support a person gives their spouse or coworkers. Both studies seem to lean towards one thing: Working women are more emotionally supportive than working men.

Support at Home

The first study examined 26 heterosexual working couples from the Netherlands between the ages of 22 and 57. The majority of couples, 89 percent, had kids and all worked at least three days a week. Men worked for about 43 hours a week, while women worked 30 hours a week. Each person was given a notebook to keep a daily log of the amount of emotional support they received at work, as well as how much emotional support they gave to their partner by listening or showing affection.

The results suggest while the workday of each partner impacted their relationships at home, the way it affected husbands was different from wives. When men had stressful days at work, they provided less support to their wives. On these days, both spouses often rated the time the family spent together poorly. But when wives were put in the same situation, their stress at work didn’t affect how much emotional support they provided to their husbands, nor did it affect the quality of the time the family spent together.

Support at Work

Researchers decided to replicate the study in the reverse direction to see if family life affects how much emotional support employees give their colleagues. The study looked at 128 employees made up of 64 pairs of colleagues who worked closely together and ranged between the ages of 18 and 64. It included about 90 females who worked approximately 30 hours a week, and 35 males who worked about 39 hours a week. Sixty-three of the participants had children.

The individuals filled out two logs—one to record the emotional demands and support at home in the morning, and another to use at the end of the workday to assess how much emotional support they gave their colleagues. Men who had emotionally draining mornings provided less support to their colleagues, which resulted in a bad team dynamic. But there was no difference in the amount of support women provided, even after a stressful morning at home.

Overall, the trend suggests men offer less emotional support when demands in another role are too much to handle. Women, however, provide emotional support regardless of demands in other aspects of their life.

Life is full of stress. No one wants problems at work to have an impact on their relationship with their partner at home, but more often than not, the two have a pesky way of intertwining. Instead of distancing yourselves from each other, work on maintaining better communication. Just a few minutes either at the beginning of the day or the end of the day to make sure you’re both on the same page can be a game-changer. Need a gentle nudge? Check out the Lasting app. The platform works as a marriage counselor right at your fingertips. You and your partner will build a strong foundation together through quizzes, exercises and expert advice.