A study of more than 128,000 U.S. adults found that those who experienced parental divorce during childhood had 41% higher odds of depression in adulthood than those whose parents remained married. Yet the findings suggest that parental divorce itself may not be the main driver of later depression. When parental mental illness and parental substance use were taken into account, the association between parental divorce and lifetime depression declined substantially and was no longer statistically significant.
"People may assume that divorce itself is what puts children at risk for depression later in life, but our findings suggest the story is far more complex," said first author Mary Kate Schilke, a university lecturer in the Department of Psychology at Tyndale University. "The family challenges that often occur alongside divorce, particularly parental mental illness and substance use, appear to be much more important in explaining long-term depression risk."
Parental mental illness emerged as a major factor in this study. More than one in five respondents whose parents divorced reported growing up with a parent who experienced mental illness, compared with fewer than one in 10 respondents whose parents remained married. Parental substance use disorders were also much more common among those who experienced parental divorce during childhood than among those whose parents stayed married (35% versus 15%).
