WIVES’ UNHAPPINESS

Opotiki News, Volume II, Issue 134, 16 January 1939, Page 4

WIVES’ UNHAPPINESS

MONEY TO' BLAME PSYCHOLOGIST'S VIEWS RESULT OF INVESTIGATIONS LONDON, Oct. 20.—investigations into the private lives of more than 3,500 couples have convinced Dr. Julius Smithson, psychologist, that money causes most unhappy marriages. Before returning tot America, he told how he had spent three years studying married life in Britain. The results' of his inquiries will be considered at a conference of the Alai.riage Guidance Council, to be attended by 350 doctors, psychologists and social workers, in London this month.

Dr. Smithson began by sending a set of questions to thousands of homes. Peoide of all ages, from an out-of-work to a £IO,OOO-a-year man, were chosen. These were Dr. Smithson’s findings:— Husbands who rated their married life as “very happy,” 26 per cent.; “more or less happy,”- 44 per cent.; “unhappy,” 19 per cent.; “unbearably unhappy,” 11 per cent. Wives who rated their marriages “very happy,” 24 per cent.; “more or less happy,” 46 per cent.; “unhappy,” 23 per cent.; “unbearably unhappy,” 7 per cent. The ratings of the husband and the wife agreed in 65 per cent, of tlie cases, and the difference in the, res’t was only between one rating and the next rating. Fewer wives are prepared to regard marriage as “unbearable” because, said Dr. Smithson, “women will not face a break so readily as men.” He added: “That is because of two factors: the economic and vanity. Marriage is a woman’s profession, and to be divorced is to admit- incompetence. They have great difficulty in facing the prospect of losing their man because the inability to keep him to her is a cause for the jeers of her women friends.”

A Vital Factor. Dr. Smith ton then turned to the money side of marriage. Of the “happy” married couples fewer than 21 per cent, had any children. More than 89 per cent, of the “more or less happy” couples had children, and of that number 73 per cent, admitted that they never desired their children. Nearly 92‘ per cent, of those with children e iifmttlwid neen-t less,*: ndt since the f children^arrived. .• In nearlyO-90' I pet;®telrt‘."' 'of the two categories of “unhappy” marriages husband and wife wejje.'.,yoipigps^..o| - , only children . w|io rw'g-” •

Dr. Sinithson > attributes "tlie"fact that pepple nowadaysi- inUvfry 1 hiihcl-i later "in' life than their tg ti a wider sOx-education, a ke'euer. sensie of domestic ■ economics- a«cV" cynical "selfishness. , “What, is urgently "needed- is a approach to liiarriagb. Unhappiness “is as certain if marriage is solely dictated by the heart—.infatuation, - romance-, sex-appeal—as if by the head: emotionless,, calculating, unimpassioned, -coldly -intc 1 ! lectual. “Married happiness ’aitaits every couple whose head and heart function together.” - - -