Table_1_Does National Context Matter When Women Surpass Their Partner in Status?.pdf

There is growing evidence that couples in non-traditional relationships in which the woman attains higher status than her male partner experience more negative relationship outcomes than traditional couples. A possible reason is that non-traditional couples violate persisting gender stereotypes that prescribe men to be breadwinners and women to be caregivers of the family. In the current study (N = 2,748), we investigated whether a country’s gender-stereotypical culture predicts non-traditional men and women’s relationship and life outcomes. We used the European Sustainable Workforce Survey, which is conducted in nine European countries. Two indicators of countries’ gender-stereotypical culture are used: Gender Empowerment Measure and implicit gender stereotypes. We found that women’s income and -to a lesser extent- education degree relative to their male partner affected outcomes such as relationship quality, negative emotions, and experienced time pressure. Furthermore, men and women living in countries with a traditional gender-stereotypical culture (e.g., Netherlands, Hungary) reported lower relationship quality when women earned more than their partners. Relative income differences did not affect the relationship quality of participants living in egalitarian countries (e.g., Sweden, Finland). Also, couples in which the woman is more highly educated than the man reported higher relationship quality in egalitarian countries, but not in traditional countries. Our findings suggest that dominant beliefs and ideologies in society can hinder or facilitate couples in non-traditional relationships.

越来越多的研究证据表明，相较于传统伴侣关系，女性社会地位高于男性伴侣的非传统伴侣关系，往往会出现更多负面关系结局。究其潜在原因，这类非传统伴侣关系违背了长期存续的性别刻板印象——此类刻板印象规定男性应作为家庭经济支柱，女性则需承担家庭照料者角色。

本研究（样本量为N=2748）旨在探讨：一国的性别刻板印象文化，是否会对处于非传统伴侣关系中的男女的关系状态与生活结局产生预测效应。本研究采用欧洲可持续劳动力调查（European Sustainable Workforce Survey）数据集，该调查覆盖九个欧洲国家。本研究采用两项指标衡量各国的性别刻板印象文化维度：其一为性别赋权度量（Gender Empowerment Measure），其二为内隐性别刻板印象（implicit gender stereotypes）。

研究结果显示：相较于男性伴侣，女性的收入水平（以及影响程度稍弱的教育学历水平）会对关系质量、负面情绪感知以及所承受的时间压力等结局产生显著影响。此外，在性别刻板印象偏向传统的国家（如荷兰、匈牙利）中，若女性收入高于伴侣，双方报告的关系质量会显著更低。而在平等主义（egalitarian）国家（如瑞典、芬兰）中，相对收入差距并不会对参与者的关系质量产生影响。同样，在平等主义国家中，女性受教育程度高于男性的伴侣关系，双方报告的关系质量更高；但在传统性别文化主导的国家中并未出现这一现象。

本研究结果表明，社会中占据主导地位的信念与意识形态，会对非传统伴侣关系起到阻碍或促进作用。