When your romantic partner experiences great success, like a promotion at work, get a raise, or even achieving their personal weight loss goal, what sort of situation does that put you in?
A recent study suggests that men experience a blow to their self-esteem when their female counterparts experience success, even when they’re not directly competing.
According to study co-author Kate Ratliff of the University of Florida:
“There is an idea that women are allowed to bask in the reflected glory of her male partner and to be the ‘woman behind the successful man,’ but the reverse is not true for men”.
Shigehiro Oishi, researcher University of Virginia and Ratliff put participants through a series of five experiments to see how a partner’s success impacted each gender’s implicit and explicit self esteem, and in most cases, men suffered more self-esteem issues when their female partner outperformed them at social or intellectual tasks.
But why? Oishi and Ratliff explained in their study:
“Having a partner who experiences a success might hurt men’s implicit self-esteem because ambition and success are qualities that are generally important to women when selecting a mate. So thinking of themselves as unsuccessful might trigger men’s fear that their partner will ultimately leave them”.
You can read the full study here.
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