Depression among unmarried couples

[Alice S. Fuzzybutt]

HK--

You recently posted this in the Guys and Marriage thread:

Putting it into perspecitive:

1. Women - Married heterosexual women have vastly higher depression
rates than single women. Interestingly, lesbian women in long term
relationships have very low incidents of depression. Theorist believe it has to
do with the degree of equity in the relationship.

2. Men - Single men have vastly higher depression rates than married men.
I'm unaware of the top of my head what the difference, if any, was in gay
men.)

3. Conclusions: Marriage is great for preventing or lifting depression in men.
Marriage is related to increased incidents of (first time and
recurrent)depression in women.


It got me thinking, what is the depression rate like for unmarried, yet co-habitating couples?

It seems silly to think that a mere "piece of paper" could really make that much of a difference. I don't mean to over simplify. I know that with marriage comes certain expectations, responsibilities, and commitment; you don't go into marriage for just shits and giggles.

But what about couples who are fully committed to each other and just choose not to marry? Has anyone done any sort of a study?



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[Michael Fury]

Fuzzy -- I came across a 2000 study that said depression rates among unmarried couples living together are more than three times the depression rates among married couples.

SOURCE: Susan L. Brown, "The Effect of Union Type on Psychological Well-Being: Depression among Cohabitors versus Marrieds," Journal of Health and Social Behavior 41-3 (2000)

I haven't read this myself (nor do I want to) but I think there's a lot of bias in this area of research (eg. The National Marriage Project). Who knows what the angle is on her research?





"Don't let it end like this. Tell them I said something." Pancho Villa's last words

[fiestygal]

well it is fact that couples who live with each other before marriage are more likely to A) not go through with marriage and B) get married but divorce...they had a study about this a few yrs ago

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I'll get off my SOAP BOX now!

I am a goofball & swell to boot

[Jennitalia]

i lived with my ex, who i thought i'd end up marrying, for about a year and a half. we had some problems before we shacked up together, and instead of trying to resolve them before hand, we just jumped into it. I sunk into a deep depression about 4 months after moving in together, and we broke up about a year after that. it was probably the roughest period in my life that i'm still trying to work on so i dont keep ending up in the same situation.
on the other hand, the happiest couple i know have been living together for about 15 years. i never knew 2 people more meant for each other

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sit on my face and tell me that you love me
i'll sit on your face and tell you i love you, too.

[A.J.]

Men - Single men have vastly higher depression rates than married men.


I beg to differ.

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Made by Aggie.

[HordeKing1]

Your opinon may differ but every study done on the topic has consistently found this to be true (in Western cultures).

This has been linked to issues of psychological intimacy. See (for example) Dion and Dion, (1993). Individualistic and collectivistic perpectives on gender. Journal of Social Issues, Vol 49 No. 3. pp 53-69.

For an excellent overview of gender and psychological distress see Anselmi, D and Law, A. (1998) Questions of gender: Perspectives and paradoxes, pp 727-738. Boston: McGraw Hill

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[HordeKing1]

M FURIE - That study surprised me greatly since it is contrary to what most other studies have found.

I reviewed the abstract from the Brown study and noted immeidately that she did not use her own data in writing this article. The data was obtained from an outside source.(Unfortunately, EBSCOhost is down now, so I can't look it up again).

In any event this data may be from an organization that may very well be committed to spreading the belief that only marital unions are valid. Indeed, Brown uses a deficiet comparison model in describing cohabitiation as compared to marriage.

The central flaw of her study appears to be that it does establish a valid research design. Of the three issues that must be addressed for a research design to be valid, she establishes questionable covariation, but does not establish temporal priority or eliminate potentially contaminating data. This isn't surprisng as she didn't use her own data. Neither the sampling methods, nor the assingment were random.

Her focus, appears to be on proving her hypothesis instead of eliminating the null hypothesis, therfore throwing the statistical significance of the study into question.


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[HordeKing1]

FUZZY - I read the study FEISTY referred to.

It seems very counterintuitive, but couples who cohabitate are more likely to get divorced than couples who do not.

A theory is that cohabitating couples don't acclimate themselves to their partners habits assuming that they'll change once they get married. Bad assumption. Couples who go straight to marriage may feel that they have to acclimate right from the start.

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[Alice S. Fuzzybutt]

Now I'm sad.

"This homemade Prozac needs more ice cream."

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This message was edited by Alice S. Fuzzybutt on 8-5-02 @ 3:13 PM

[Michael Fury]

In any event this data may be from an organization that may very well be committed to spreading the belief that only marital unions are valid.


I think you're right, HK. Brown's research has been trumpeted by The National Marriage Project, a Rutgers-based group arguing marriage is the only acceptable way to form a relationship. Fascists!

The only thing I can say is that depression is caused by so many other possible factors that drawing a direct correlation to cohabitation is weak.




"Don't let it end like this. Tell them I said something." Pancho Villa's last words

[Cybersoldier]

single guy who don't get laidhave hight depression rates

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thanks earth2ron

[HordeKing1]

CYBERSOLDIER - I beleive that would be true of married men as well...

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[Alice S. Fuzzybutt]

I beleive that would be true of married men as well...



And married women.

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