Most men still think they should be the primary breadwinner, and being superseded by a spouse seems to strike a heavy blow to men's health, said Cary Cooper, professor at the Rutgers University in the US.
Researchers believe tht men suffer psychologically from being toppled from their position as main provider and this affects their physical health.
The team studied nearly 2,000 couples over 30 years, monitoring changes in earnings and status.
"We found that violating cultural expectations, such as the masculinity ideal of male breadwinning, is associated with older men's poorer health," researchers wrote in the study published in the Journal of Ageing and Health.
"The fact is most men still think they should be the primary breadwinner," said Cooper.
"When they no longer play that role, their health suffers psychologically and that in turns damages their physical health," he said.
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