Summary
The study showed the incidence of marital maladjustment to be significantly higher in Chichester female psychiatric patients, aged 40–49, than in matched local controls. This finding applied only to women whose husbands were social class III–V. Significantly more patients received less affection than they gave and had dominant husbands. Within the control series, the mental health of women with marital maladjustment was significantly worse than that of those in good marriages. The mental health ratings of women who were divorced from maladjusted marriages resembled those of women with good marriages. Similarly, the mental health ratings of patients with marital maladjustment were significantly worse than those of patients with good marriages. Among a series of depressed psychiatric patients, significantly more neurotic depressions than endogenous depressions had maladjusted marriages, and in the majority of cases the maladjustment was observed to antedate the onset of symptoms. A significant association was demonstrated between pre-morbid marital maladjustment and onset of symptoms before age 40, irrespective of type of depression.
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Birtchnell, J., Kennard, J. Does marital maladjustment lead to mental illness?. Soc Psychiatry 18, 79–88 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00583992
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00583992