【英语生活】繁忙工作会带来幸福婚姻吗？

Can working hard at the office invigorate a marriage?

A new study suggests that for working mothers at least, that may be the case. Working moms tend to be happier with their marriages when they are shouldering heavy workloads on the job, says a four-year study of 169 couples published recently in the Journal of Family Psychology. One reason may be that when working moms' workloads increase, their husbands tend to help out more at home, researchers suggest.

This 'may liberate wives from some of the burdens of juggling the two worlds of work and family life, increasing their satisfaction with the marriage,' says the study by researchers at Utrecht University in the Netherlands and the University of California, Los Angeles. Other studies also have shown that husbands who do more housework tend to have sex more often with their wives.

For many people in general, 'working hard can be energizing and can complement one's role as a spouse,' says the latest study. Affirming this 'work hard, play hard' approach to life, researchers at the University of Wisconsin have found some people are energized by juggling a lot of roles. We have posted before on how the juggle energizes some people, but drains others.

However, when dads' on-the-job workloads rise, both they and their wives tend to become less satisfied with their marriages, the Utrecht University study says. The reasons aren't explained in the study, but they echo other studies documenting what psychologists call 'scarcity theory' the idea that human strivings are sometimes a zero-sum game, and that demands at work drain time and energy for couples to spend on marriage and children.

Readers, which pattern holds true in your household? Does plunging more deeply into your job generate more energy for your marriage and sex life? Or are you drained by a heavy workload, leaving less energy for the rest of your life? How does the situation change when you work harder versus when your spouse is busier on the job?

在办公室努力工作能够增进婚姻关系吗？

Everett Collection丈夫承担更多的家务活会让妻子更高兴。一项最新的研究表明，至少对职业母亲来说，这一点是成立的。据最近发表在《家庭心理学杂志》(Journal of Family Psychology)上的对169对夫妇进行的一项为期4年的调查显示，职业母亲在承担繁重的工作负担时，对她们的婚姻往往会更满意。研究人员指出，原因之一可能是，当职业母亲的工作负荷加重时，她们的丈夫往往会承担更多的家务劳动。

荷兰乌特勒支大学(Utrecht University)和加州大学洛杉矶分校(University of California, Los Angeles)的研究人员进行的这项研究显示，丈夫承担更多的家务活可能会减轻妻子在努力平衡工作与家庭生活过程中的负担，从而提高她们对婚姻的满意度。其他的研究也表明，承担较多家务劳动的丈夫与妻子的性生活往往更频繁。

这项最新的研究称，从整体上看，对许多人来说，努力工作能让他们充满活力，而且能够进一步完善他们作为配偶的角色。威斯康辛大学(University of Wisconsin)的研究人员发现，同时玩转多重角色能让有些人充满活力，从而肯定了“努力工作，尽情玩乐”的生活态度。在以前的专栏中，我们曾经探讨过同时玩转多重角色使某些人充满活力，却使另一些人感到精疲力竭。

然而，乌特勒支大学的研究显示，当职业父亲的工作负担加重时，他们和妻子对婚姻的满意度往往都会下降。这项研究没有对具体原因做出解释，但这种现象与其他的一些研究相符，这些研究证明了心理学家所称的“稀缺理论”，即认为人类付出的各种努力有时候是一种此消彼长的零和游戏，工作要求的增加会相应减少夫妇双方花在婚姻和孩子身上的时间和精力。

读者们，你们的家庭是哪一种模式呢？对工作投入的加大是否会让你在婚姻和性生活方面变得更有活力呢？还是说繁重的工作让你筋疲力尽，使你对生活其他方面的热情减退？当你和你的配偶分别是工作比较繁忙的那个人时，情况会有什么不同？