The Gist: Though more men go away for guys weekends than women, they are unhappier than their male counterparts who have not. Women who have gone away for girls-only trips are happier than those who have not.
Have you seen the movie ‘Girls Trip’? We wondered how many people take trips like this and if a difference between men and women existed for these sort of getaways. Have more women or more men gone on them, or is it similar?
Spoiler: there’s a difference between genders.
Over half of US adult men have experienced a weekend getaway with only the guys, while 39% of women have done so. Men are shown in the first graph, and women in the second:
The first thing that came to mind is to compare this to parental status. Maybe the men going to hang out with just the guys for a weekend aren’t parents. Eh, not really:
35% of males polled who have been on this sort of trip are indeed parents, more than those who have not been on this kind of trip. And women? Any relief from parental duties? Sigh.
That’s right. More mothers have NOT gone on a girls-only weekend trip than mothers who have. That’s flipped with the men. So, you could think of it this way: more men have gotten a break from their parental duties than women (mothers) have. Go figure.
Lastly, let’s see how this impacts happiness, if at all. The results were different than you may have guessed. Starting with men:
Men who have been on guy’s trips are unhappier than those who have not been on one. That’s right. Maybe they want an escape? Is it home life that’s got them bogged down?
And we see the reverse for women — women who HAVE been on these trips are happier than those who have not:
We aren’t psychologists here, but we certainly find this all very interesting. We could say that maybe (just maybe) women (especially mothers) should get a break. Otherwise, we’ll leave further speculation to you.