Just one more confirmation of the differences between men and women: A study at UCLA reveals that in dual income households, men appear to de-stress best when they are relaxing while their wives are doing chores, in fact happiest when not asked to “chip in”. On the contrary, a woman’s stress level appears to decrease when both spouses are engaged in household chores.
The study measured the levels of the stress hormone cortisol after a busy work day, and confirmed that while men are comfortable coming home to relax after a busy day, a woman’s stress level only decreases when the men lend a hand. A woman’s stress level actually increases when she is doing the work alone.
The significance of this data is that they resulted from actual biological testing rather than how people “felt” in these situations.