Hubby who helps with housework guarantees 'longer marriage'

Husbands who are prepared to wash the dishes and vacuum are more likely to have longer marriages, claims a new study.
Research revealed a marriage had better chances of longevity where the husband had pitched in to help with the domestic chores, shopping and childcare.
Previously, it had been thought that the rising level in divorce rates was a result of more mothers going out to work.
But now a study by the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) claims dads who roll up their sleeves and pick up the dishcloth have a bigger chance of making their marriages stable, regardless of whether a woman works or not.
The research - Men's Unpaid Work and Divorce: Reassessing Specialisation and Trade - was carried out by Dr Wendy Sigle-Rushton, senior lecturer in social policy at LSE, and centred on couples whose first child was born in 1970 and who were still married five years later.
The study followed 3,500 couples and monitored the fathers' role in housework, shopping and childcare. The mothers made a note of how many tasks the men carried out in a week.
Just over half (51%) carried out one or no tasks and nearly a quarter (24%) did two chores. But only a quarter carried out three or four tasks.
Results of the research published in Feminist Economics showed nearly one third of the mothers worked, but only 5% worked full-time.
The study found the risk of divorce was higher when the mother worked outside the home and the husband made scant contribution to housework.
Dr Sigle-Rushton said: ''The results suggest the risk of divorce among working mothers, while greater, is substantially reduced when fathers contribute more to housework and childcare.
''Economists have spent a good deal of time examining and trying to explain the positive association between female employment and divorce. However, in doing so they have paid very little attention to the behaviour of men.
''This research addresses that oversight and suggests fathers' contribution to unpaid work at home stablilises marriage regardless of mothers' employment status.
''This study underscores the importance of taking into account relationships between men's behaviour and marital stability.
''In economic and sociological research, there has been too great an emphasis on women's paid work and not enough attention given to the division of unpaid work.''