Background:
There is growing attention to the social consequences of psychiatric disorders, including the extent to which psychiatric disorders are associated with subsequent divorce and relationship dissolution. The previous research has largely studied individuals and given only limited consideration to the broader context of marriage and the potential interplay between spouses' mental health. The current paper studies couples and examines the association between both spouses' mental health problems and subsequent marital dissolution.
Methods:
Prospective analysis of secondary data from a longitudinal national household survey. About 3230 couples were followed over 36 months, with logistic and multilevel regression models used to determine whether mental health problems of spouses at wave 1 (assessed by the mental health scale of SF-36) predicted subsequent marital dissolution.
Results:
Couples in which either men or women reported mental health problems had higher rates of marital disruption than couples in which neither spouse experienced mental health problems. For couples in which both spouses reported mental health problems, rates of marital disruption reflected the additive combination of each spouse's separate risk. These couples did not have disproportionately higher rates of divorce or separation.
Conclusions:
Spouse similarity for mental disorders does not seem to increase couples' risk of marital dissolution.
