science

Retired husband syndrome

Retired husband syndrome is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Retired husband syndrome rather than just read about it. In short: Retired husband syndrome (主人在宅ストレス症候群, shujin zaitaku sutoresu shōkōgun; literally "one's husband being at home stress syndrome") (RHS) is a psychosomatic stress-related illness recognized in Japanese culture which has been estimated to occur in 60% of the older female population. It is claimed to be a condition where a woman begins to exhibit signs of physical illness and depression as her husband reaches, or appro…

Key takeaways

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Connect Retired husband syndrome to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Retired husband syndrome from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Retired husband syndrome (主人在宅ストレス症候群, shujin zaitaku sutoresu shōkōgun; literally "one's husband being at home stress syndrome") (RHS) is a psychosomatic stress-related illness recognized in Japanese culture which has been estimated to occur in 60% of the older female population. It is claimed to be a condition where a woman begins to exhibit signs of physical illness and depression as her husband reaches, or approaches, retirement.

Common symptoms The following are some of the common symptoms of RHS:

Depression Skin rash Asthma Ulcers High blood pressure

Theorized reason for RHS This syndrome was identified and coined by Nobuo Kurokawa and first appeared in a presentation of his to the Japanese Society of Psychosomatic Medicine in 1991. Kurokawa has theorized that RHS is a result of the fact that many of Japan's citizens who are reaching retirement age, 60, are members of the Baby Boomer generation of Japan. The members of this generation were expected to meet certain social requirements: that the man should be the breadwinner and work to support his family, and the woman was to be not only a homemaker but also to show a level of adoration for her salaryman husband as reward for his bringing in the money she used to look after their children and socialize with her friends. As the husband's career as a salaryman can demand long hours away from home, both working and socializing with other salarymen and their bosses as is expected, a husband may leave home in the early hours of the morning and return home late at night. This could mean that a husband and wife may not interact extensively and when a husband retires both members of the couple can feel they are living together with someone who is a virtual stranger. This can be a particularly stressful experience for the woman who, as society dictated in her youth, is expected to attend to her husband's every need and can find this a very large demand indeed. The stress this change in life style brings can lead not only to the above listed symptoms, but also to a level of resentment felt toward her husband. Some couples have been known to separate over RHS, however divorce is uncommon as it is not considered an acceptable option for that generation of Japanese. Also currently an ex-wife has no rights to a portion of her husband's pension should they divorce, and therefore may be unable to survive financially (though this was set to change in 2007). Despite this, the divorce rate among older Japanese couples has soared in recent decades, as more of the baby boomer population have retired, increasing by 26.5% in 10 years according to the health ministry. The number of divorces among couples married for 20 years or more hit 42,000 in 2004, double those recorded in 1985. Divorces among those married for more than 30 years quadrupled during the same period. In 2006, these figures were projected to rise further as more Japanese people were expected to retire in the subsequent five years than at any other point in Japanese history. Some women deal with RHS by focusing their energy on obsessions such as collecting teddy bears, or following a celebrity, which they say can help them psychologically. They may also ask their husbands to stay on at work past retirement age. Many wives do not tell their husbands what is happening and this can worsen the stress as their husbands may not understand or even realize their wives have RHS.

Research Marco Bertoni and Giorgio Brunello of the University of Padova published a discussion paper in July 2014 based on empirical research in Japan.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Retired husband syndrome

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Retired husband syndrome claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Retired husband syndrome before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Retired husband syndrome ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Retired husband syndrome

In research: Retired husband syndrome appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Retired husband syndrome in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Retired husband syndrome is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Culture-bound syndromes, Health in Japan, Retirement, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Retired husband syndrome outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Retired husband syndrome in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Retired husband syndrome means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Retired husband syndrome out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Retired husband syndrome in simple terms?

Why does Retired husband syndrome matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Retired husband syndrome?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Retired husband syndrome.