Unequal Burdens, Unequal Benefits: Housework, Mental Load, and Gendered Satisfaction in Heterosexual Relationships.

Despite growing attention to unequal housework distribution, the cognitive and emotional demands-collectively referred to as mental load-remain underexplored in relationship research. Across two studies, we examined how mental load distribution in heterosexual couples relates to women's relationship and sexual satisfaction. In Study 1 (N = 452), women reported greater satisfaction when male partners contributed more to mental load, especially to emotional labor. Mental load was a stronger predictor of satisfaction than physical housework and women's gender ideology, suggesting that even egalitarian women disproportionately shoulder this often-invisible labor. Study 2 (N = 156 couples) used dyadic data and found women's satisfaction increased with shared mental load, while men's satisfaction was higher when their female partners took on a greater share. These gendered patterns were observed for both relationship and sexual outcomes. Our findings underscore the importance of recognizing mental load as a distinct factor in understanding gender inequality in intimate relationships.