The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology published an article that explains why men hate it when their girlfriend or wife earns more money than they do.
U.S. scientists Keith Ratliff and Shigehiro Oishi by interviewing 856 people concluded that wives’ and girlfriends’ success in career negatively affects men’s self-esteem.
If the partner earns more, men subconsciously begin to evaluate themselves and their successes worse, while women are not affected by their partner’s achievements in any way.
Scientists have shown that even if there is no obvious or even hidden competition in the couple, man automatically interprets his girlfriend’s success as his own defeat.
Another online experiment showed that men, remembering the moment when their girlfriend had success in the professional field, tend to underestimate their self-esteem. But remembering the moment of defeat, the male partner feels superior .
