A new study has found that couples who share child care responsibilities experience higher satisfaction in their sex lives and overall relationships.
Researchers at Georgia State University looked at the data of 487 heterosexual couples. The couples were grouped into three, depending on the child care shared: women did most or all (at least 60 percent), men did most or all (at least 60 percent), and split child care (each did between 40 and 60 percent). They also examined each couple's relationship satisfaction and conflict, sexual frequency, and quality of sex life.
The analysis showed that women who did most of the child care reported lower relationship quality and sex life compared to those who were sharing child care with their partners. Men who did most of the child care, on the other hand, were just as happy on the quality of their relationships as those who split the duty with their partner. When men do most of the work, women reported the highest satisfaction on the relationship and sex life.
"One of the most important findings is that the only childcare arrangement that appears really problematic for the quality of both a couple's relationship and sex life is when the woman does most or all of the childcare," Daniel L. Carlson, study leader and an assistant professor of sociology at Georgia State University, said in a news release.
Interestingly, men who split child care with the women reported the worst quality of sex among all groups despite being satisfied with the amount of sex they were getting. The researchers were uncertain as to why.
"We don't really know exactly what is behind this," Carlson told HealthDay News. "But it could be that a relationship suffers when one person feels overburdened, overworked or overtired. Or it could be that a certain degree of dissatisfaction with having to do all the work, while the other isn't doing any of it, undermines the bond between couples. And that can carry over to the bedroom."
The researchers plan to continue their study to delve how equal sharing of child care improves the quality of relationships.
The study will be presented on Aug. 23 at the 110th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association in Chicago.
