Premarital mental disorders and physical violence in marriage: cross-national study of married couples
Year: 2011
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Mental disorders may increase the risk of physical violence among married couples. AIMS: To estimate associations between premarital mental disorders and marital violence in a cross-national sample of married couples. METHOD: A total of 1821 married couples (3642 individuals) from 11 countries were interviewed as part of the World Health Organization's World Mental Health Survey Initiative. Sixteen mental disorders with onset prior to marriage were examined as predictors of marital violence reported by either spouse. RESULTS: Any physical violence was reported by one or both spouses in 20% of couples, and was associated with husbands' externalising disorders (OR = 1.7, 95% CI 1.2-2.3). Overall, the population attributable risk for marital violence related to premarital mental disorders was estimated to be 17.2%. CONCLUSIONS: Husbands' externalising disorders had a modest but consistent association with marital violence across diverse countries. This finding has implications for the development of targeted interventions to reduce risk of marital violence.
Institutions: University of California Davis Medical Center, RAND Corporation, Harvard University, University of Balamand, Saint George Hospital, Institute for Development, Research, Advocacy and Applied Care, Boston University, University of Ibadan, University College Hospital, Ibadan, South African Medical Research Council, Medical Research Council, University of Cape Town, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Universidade de São Paulo, Universitair Ziekenhuis Leuven, KU Leuven, Centro San Giovanni di Dio Fatebenefratelli, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental, Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu, Shenzhen KangNing Hospital, Université Paris Descartes, New Bulgarian University
Language: English
Subfield: Health
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funders: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly and Company, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, World Health Organization, European Commission, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo, Shire, National Institutes of Health, Pfizer Foundation, Pan American Health Organization, Medical Research Council, National Health and Medical Research Council, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Fogarty International Center, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Awards: G1037158725, World Mental Health Consortium Annual Meeting 2003-07, G1550703150, Epidemiological study of psychiatric disorders in the São Paulo Metropolitan Region: prevalence, risk factors, and social and economical burden, G2237026874, Social Role Disability and Mental-Physical Co-Morbidity, Drug Dependence Epidemiology and Enviromics, G2293739665, G2412493501, G3337569173, CROSS-NATIONAL STUDIES OF DRUG INVOLVEMENT: WMH2000, G3649151923, G3658001182, G4036403015, G4076321871, G4226508884, G4504230253, G4784666921, G4846506836, Risk Factors for Psychopathology in the WHO WMH Surveys, G5506155316, G578575042, G6629244973, G6667095330, Epidemiology - National Comorbidity Survey Replication, G7284921876, G7433974870, G851565850, Lebanon-Epidemiology: The NCS Replication Study, G8808417261
OpenAlex ID: W2136201560