Women Who Out-Earn Their Husbands Are 36% More Likely To Separate, Penn Study Finds

Researchers say the link between a wife's higher income and separation grows stronger once children are in the picture (Credit: Magnific)

Female breadwinners who earn more than their husbands face a 36 per cent higher risk of splitting up than couples where the man remains the main earner, according to new research from the University of Pennsylvania. The study followed 544,911 different-sex couples across 29 high-income countries over a 16-year period.

The research was led by Pilar Gonalons-Pons of the University of Pennsylvania alongside Allison Dunatchik of the University of South Carolina. It was published in the Journal of Marriage and Family under the title 'Women's Socioeconomic Advantage Over Their Partners and Relationship Dissolution: A 29-Country Study'.