Truth to 'Oscar curse'
WATERLOO, Ont. (CUP) —
A new study from the University
of Toronto is bringing statistical
weight to the idea of the "Oscar
curse."
"The findings are that, compared to women who get nominated for Best Actress but do not win, women who win the Oscar have a higher likelihood of divorce following the Oscar win," explained co-author of the study Tiziana Casciaro, a professor at U of T.
Casciaro added the study also showed that men who won in the Best Actor category showed "no significant differences in the possibility of divorce."
By looking at 751 Academy Award nominees in both categories between 1936-2010, Casciaro and her colleagues discovered that Best Actress winners have a 63 per cent chance of their marriages ending sooner than those of non-winners.
Additionally, men who won had an average marriage duration of 9.5 years, while their female counterparts' average duration was 4.3 years. Also examining the Oscar for Best Actor, the study found only a 0.69 difference in marriage length between those who won the category and those who were simply nominated.
The study of Oscar nominees and winners provided a controlled environment for researchers to examine gender roles in relationships - an aspect that Casciaro said was an important reason for conducting the study.
"This is a very nice research design because the nominees who do not win work as a natural control group against which to compare the nominees who do win," Casciaro explained. "You're running your statistical analysis comparing apples to apples."
Most important to the study, Casciaro explained, is that these findings can also be reflected in the general population.
"The research in this domain of gender relationships in marriage has already suggested and supported in many different ways the notion that there is a strong social norm in our society requiring that a man's professional and economic value in the couple be higher than the wife," said Casciaro.
"And so whenever in a couple that norm is violated, people feel uncomfortable."
Casciaro continued that this discomfort could come from the male or female in the relationship feeling uncomfortable or from outside pressures on a couple that is not conforming to the norm. And although the study did not examine Best Supporting Actress and Actor nominees, Casciaro posited that studies may show similar results when examining winners from these categories.
"The findings are that, compared to women who get nominated for Best Actress but do not win, women who win the Oscar have a higher likelihood of divorce following the Oscar win," explained co-author of the study Tiziana Casciaro, a professor at U of T.
Casciaro added the study also showed that men who won in the Best Actor category showed "no significant differences in the possibility of divorce."
By looking at 751 Academy Award nominees in both categories between 1936-2010, Casciaro and her colleagues discovered that Best Actress winners have a 63 per cent chance of their marriages ending sooner than those of non-winners.
Additionally, men who won had an average marriage duration of 9.5 years, while their female counterparts' average duration was 4.3 years. Also examining the Oscar for Best Actor, the study found only a 0.69 difference in marriage length between those who won the category and those who were simply nominated.
The study of Oscar nominees and winners provided a controlled environment for researchers to examine gender roles in relationships - an aspect that Casciaro said was an important reason for conducting the study.
"This is a very nice research design because the nominees who do not win work as a natural control group against which to compare the nominees who do win," Casciaro explained. "You're running your statistical analysis comparing apples to apples."
Most important to the study, Casciaro explained, is that these findings can also be reflected in the general population.
"The research in this domain of gender relationships in marriage has already suggested and supported in many different ways the notion that there is a strong social norm in our society requiring that a man's professional and economic value in the couple be higher than the wife," said Casciaro.
"And so whenever in a couple that norm is violated, people feel uncomfortable."
Casciaro continued that this discomfort could come from the male or female in the relationship feeling uncomfortable or from outside pressures on a couple that is not conforming to the norm. And although the study did not examine Best Supporting Actress and Actor nominees, Casciaro posited that studies may show similar results when examining winners from these categories.
