贤妻忙操持 丈夫更放松

It is the news most women today do not want to hear - their husbands relax best when their wives are doing the chores。

Researchers came to the conclusion after spending two years studying 30 couples in Los Angeles testing their stress levels during the week and at the weekend。

Unsurprisingly they found wives relax when their husbands are helping out with the washing, cooking and cleaning, but men are most at ease when they have their feet up and their other halves are on domestic duty。

The study, published in the current issue in the Journal of Family Psychology, also found wives generally spend more of their 'free' time at home doing housework, while their other halves spend more time indulging in their own hobbies。

It confirms the traditional stereotype that women work harder for the household than men - often doing twice as much housework as their husbands。

Earlier this month researchers from the University of South Florida found that men react aggressively if they feel their masculinity is being threatened。

After doing tasks traditionally associated with women, like cleaning or housework, men will deliberately behave in a more macho way to restore their self-esteem, they found。

The Center for the Everyday Lives of Families at the University of California in Los Angeles conducted this latest research between 2004 and 2006.

They surveyed dual-earning couples in their early 40s who had been married for about 13 years。

They all had at least one child aged between eight and 10, many with three。

Their saliva was tested and researchers tracked their activities at 10 minute intervals on two weekdays and two weekend days to measure levels of stress hormone cortisol。

They recorded more than 5,500 unique entries about a couples' activities, classifying them in 13 different categories, and found men had lower stress levels when they had free time and their wives were doing household chores。

The hormone can affect sleep, weight and immune resistance if it is too high。

Anthropologist Elinor Ochs told USA Today: 'What we did was videotape from morning to night. We looked at where family members were every 10 minutes — who was with them and what they were doing. We did intensive interviews about their health and well being.'

She said previous research showed men tend to spend time alone after work to wind down from the day, whilst women tend to focus on childcare and then housework when they are alone。

Lead author Darby Saxbe said men might find it quite rejuvenating relaxing when they know someone else is doing the work。

下面这条消息女人们可能不愿意听到：在她们忙于各种家务琐事时，丈夫正享受着最放松的一刻。

研究人员花费两年时间，研究了30对生活在洛杉矶的夫妇，检测他们周内和周末的压力水平，然后得出以上结论的。

他们发现，当丈夫帮忙洗衣、做饭、打扫卫生时，妻子会感到轻松，这倒是很正常的现象，但在妻子忙东忙西，丈夫什么也不做时，是男性最放松的时候。

刊登在最新一期的《家庭心理》杂志上的这篇文章称，一般情况下做妻子的会把空闲时间用来做家务，而她们的另一半则沉迷于自己的业余爱好中。

这篇文章肯定了女性为达到传统意义上的贤妻良母形象所付出的努力——她们要比自己的丈夫多花一倍的时间处理家务。

本月早些时候，美国南佛罗里达大学的研究人员发现，当男性感到自己作为一家之主的地位受到威胁时，反应会十分激烈。

研究人员发现，男性在做完诸如清洁之类的家务事后——通常人们认为这是女人的活计——他们会不经意的耍起大爷派头以重塑自己的男性尊严。

加利福尼亚大学的家庭生活事务研究中心在2004-2006年间展开了这项最新的调查。

他们调查的对象为夫妻均40出头，婚龄约为13年的双收入家庭。

这些家庭至少育有一个孩子，大部分育有三个子女，年龄在8-10岁间。

研究人员每周会安排四天(工作日两天和周末两天)采集参与调查的夫妇的唾液样本——唾液中含有反应身体压力水平的皮质醇荷尔蒙，采集过程每隔十分钟进行一次。

调查过程中研究人员共记录下5500件发生在这些夫妇日常生活中的特别事件，并把它们统归为13个类别。他们发现当男性空闲而他们的妻子在做家务时，他们体内的皮质醇荷尔蒙最低。

如果人体内这种荷尔蒙含量过高的话，会影响人的睡眠质量、体重以及免疫力。

人类学家艾林诺尔•欧奇斯在接受《今日美国》采访时说：“我们对实验过程进行了全场录像。每隔十分钟我们就会查看这些夫妻在哪，他们和谁在一起，他们在做什么。我们对他们的身体及健康状况进行了高密度的观测。”

艾林诺尔•欧奇斯称，过去的研究显示男性在经过一整天的工作后习惯独自一人放松放松， 而女性则会照顾孩子，处理家务。

这项研究的负责人达尔比•萨卡斯比称，当有人处理家务时，男性会觉得特别的轻松惬意。