If you are a mom, you probably do what every single mother does daily - worry and stress. One might think that most of the stress is connected to their children, but as it turns out, their husbands could be an even greater source of anxiety for them. The results from Today’s survey, where more than 7,000 mothers from the United States have been interviewed, revealed that, on average, most mothers would rate their stress levels at 8.5 out of 10. The same study carried out by Today informed that approximately half the mothers (46 percent) discovered that their significant others caused them more stress than their children did!
Men and women think differently, so mothers stress over things in many different ways than men.
As the study disclosed, the source of stress and irritation for most mothers is the lack of precious time to manage and complete all necessary tasks on time. In addition, 75 percent of the participants in the study explained that they carried most of the burden for parenting and household obligations in the family.
Lastly, as the researchers reported in Today’s survey, 1 in every 5 mothers found the lack of help from their spouses to be the dominant source of daily stress.
The University of Padova discovered that all of these stress levels affect and play a key role in marriages later in life and also in the health and life span of the partners. Their researchers found out that later in life, when a husband loses a wife, his health tends to worsen, while when a husband passes away, the wife tends to become healthier and shows improvement when dealing with stress and depression.
The researchers at the University of Padova didn’t manage to discover the determining factor for this situation. Still, they speculate that the main reason was that male partners were more dependent on their female partners than vice versa.
Curious Mind Magazine wrote an article suggesting advice to bring spouses closer together. In case both partners are employed full-time, they must follow a list of obligations and responsibilities. Delegating tasks among partners can reduce stress and get more activities done. Each partner should have responsibilities and a clear list of obligations.
Dividing and delegating responsibilities can be so beneficial. For example, fathers can be responsible for organizing play dates, doctor appointments, and picking up and dropping off the kids, while mothers can deal with homework duties, discipline, and rewards.
With the use of smartphones and tablets, parents can use a shared calendar application to keep themselves responsible and informed.
These particular surveys definitely gave us so much food for thought.
