Marriages stronger 'if husbands help'

The study of 3,500 British couples after the birth of their first child found the more husbands helped, the lower the incidence of divorce.

Economists have previously argued that rising divorce rates, which

began in the early 1960s, are linked with steady increases in the numbers of married women working.

It was claimed that marriages where men take responsibility for paid work and women stay at home leave both spouses better off.

But the new study, from the London School of Economics and Political Science, explodes the theory that marriages are most stable when men focus on paid work and women are responsible for housework.

It showed instead that fathers' contribution to housework and childcare stabilises marriage,.

The research was carried out by Wendy Sigle-Rushton and published in Feminist Economics.

Dr Sigle-Rushton said: "Economists have spent a good deal of time examining and trying to explain the positive association between female employment and divorce.

"However in doing so they have paid very little attention to the behaviour of men.

"This research addresses that oversight and suggests fathers' contribution to unpaid work at home stabilises marriage regardless of mothers' employment status."