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CNN Live At Daybreak
Role Reversal Study Warns of Risk
Aired April 25, 2002 - 05:45 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Listen up parents, if you're a dad who stays at home while mom goes to work or if you're thinking about that, there's a new study out that you need to know about. Researchers have actually found that role reversal between working parents may be hazardous to your health. We're not kidding.
Our medical correspondent Rhonda Rowland reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How old is he now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Almost six months now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh jeez.
RHONDA ROWLAND, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sean Greene (ph) left his career as an architect to stay home with his two sons. Wife, Regan (ph), is an attorney.
The idea of Mr. Mom, characterized in the 1980's movie, husbands and wives switching traditional roles.
MICHAEL KEATON, ACTOR: Go get them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you're in kindergarten and you do first grade work, they'll go ahead and put you at first grade...
ROWLAND: But don't make the mistake of calling these men Mr. Mom. Sean is a member of the Dad-to-Dad Playgroup of Atlanta, and they take their roles very seriously.
Matsimo Mariano (ph) has a daughter.
MATSIMO MARIANO, FATHER: Makes dads feel better because they have a way to talk with other dads.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got an extra car seat?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) car seat.
ROWLAND: Men who choose to exchange business cards for strollers and diaper bags may need that kind of support. Findings from a major heart study show that men who have been stay-at-home dads for at least 10 years have an 80 percent -- that's right -- 80 percent greater chance of dying than men who traditionally work outside the home.
ELAINE EAKER, EAKER EPIDEMIOLOGY ENTERPRISES (ph): This finding about househusbands as far as we know has never been examined and it's really an unanticipated finding.
ROWLAND: Researchers speculate stress may be the cause of the grim statistic.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Since we were kids, we were raised to, you know, be the breadwinner, you know take care of the family you know financially and you know, be the macho male guy.
ROWLAND (on camera): So you weren't really cultured to think that this is what you were going to be doing?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No boy grows up thinking you know someday I'm going to stay at home with the kids.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's not many -- there's not many boys that grow up and are in high school that go out for extra cash and say hey, I'll just go baby-sit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take it over to the table and then maybe you can get yourself a drink.
ROWLAND (voice-over): Yet, they are all doing it for the same reason: their wives' incomes are higher.
(on camera): Was it a hard decision for you guys to make, for you to stay home?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The decision was pretty easy to make. I mean we knew we wanted to watch our kids.
SEAN GREENE, STAY-AT-HOME DAD: Regan.
REGAN GREENE, MOTHER: Yes.
S. GREENE: We need to talk about that answer.
ROWLAND (voice-over): So what about Sean's wife, Regan, the high-demand, high-control attorney? The same study also found women like her are three times more likely to develop heart disease than women who are in low-authority jobs. Why? Researchers speculate role reversal may be behind both statistics.
EAKER: That incongruity with what society expects of you may be deleterious to your health.
ROWLAND: Researchers are not telling couples to go back to traditional roles. For Sean and Regan, it seems to be working.
Rhonda Rowland, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: I don't know about that. What do you think? I don't know.
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