We’ve all heard that fighting over money causes marital stress, and we’ve also heard that infidelities and even substance abuse are bad for marriage. But now a Swedish study of marriages and commute times has deciphered the real culprit behind marital breakups: too long of a commute! By comparing divorce rates with commute times in Sweden, they concluded that if either spouse has a commute time of more than 45 minutes, the chances of a breakup are 40% higher. One theory is that the man (say) takes a higher-paying job that requires him to be away from home for longer each day, and this displaces the housekeeping duties onto the woman, causing her stress and unhappiness. Another theory might be that men who commute are more stressed out by doing so and less good at “relationship stuff” when they return home. But overall, they believe that the extra time away strains the already weaker marriages to the breaking point. They did say that if it persists more than five years, the effects go away, presumably because the couples adapt. But I have a different theory. Only men who dislike their home lives accept jobs with longer commutes to being with. Men who really love their wives walk to work.
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