How you react to a life partner’s cognitive decline may depend a great deal on whether you are male or female.

A recent study from the universities of Wisconsin and Chicago found that when husbands develop cognitive impairment or dementia, wives feel more criticized and burdened.

But when wives are in decline, husbands report less strain, not more.

Before we file this one under “women are from Venus, men are from Mars,” the researchers offer some explanation for their findings from the study, which tracked 620 married couples over five years.

Traditional roles may be at play: Wives lose emotional connection while adding caregiving work, a real double whammy, while husbands often delegate care to a relative or paid helper while being less monitored about their health habits.

Cultural expectations also may be in the mix. Women often bear more of the emotional work in a marriage, the maintenance of communication and harmony. When husbands’ cognitive problems erode that connection, wives can lose what makes their marriage meaningful.

For men, a wife’s decline may bring them … well, freedom. The researchers submit that many husbands are less likely to take on the burden of intensive caregiving, instead relying on relatives or outside help.

And when women are in decline, they become less capable of “health-related social control” about things like eating a better diet, limiting alcohol and seeing a doctor. Men may enjoy that.