A major new study [1] shows that unmarried individuals are much more likely to experience depression than those who are married. The study looks at seven different countries, including Ireland.
Unmarried people include those who are single, divorced, separated, or widowed. Specifically, the analysis found being unmarried is associated with an overall 86pc higher risk of depressive symptoms. This increased risk appears particularly pronounced among divorced or separated individuals (up 99pc). It is 79pc higher in single people (that is, never married) and 64pc higher in widowed individuals, when compared to married people.
The study involved over 100,000 participants. The other countries examined along with Ireland were the United States, the United Kingdom, Mexico, South Korea, China and Indonesia.
In Ireland, the risk of depression was particularly high for divorced or separated individuals, even compared with the other countries in the study. They faced a 160pc increased risk. For widowed individuals the figure is 115pc. In other word, for every 100 married individuals in Ireland who experience depressive symptoms, there would be approximately 260 divorced or separated individuals and 215 widowed individuals experiencing similar symptoms.
The research suggests that marriage provides protective mental health benefits, possibly through mechanisms such as emotional and social support, economic stability, and the positive influence spouses can have on each other’s well-being.
Importantly, the study also highlights that the association between marital status and depression is influenced by demographic and cultural variables. The authors suggest that the more pronounced link in Western countries, including Ireland, reflect cultural differences in social expectations and support systems surrounding marriage. “Eastern cultures tend to tolerate higher levels of emotional distress before it becomes problematic, which may partially explain the lower risk of depressive symptoms in unmarried participants from these countries”, they say. The authors admit that further research is needed to understand the observed cultural differences.
Gender and education level influence in the relationship between marital status and depression. The study found that unmarried men are 25pc more likely to experience depressive symptoms than unmarried women. This risk was even higher among single men (48pc) while the research did not observe a significant difference between men and women among divorced/separated or widowed.
“Females tend to have larger and stronger social support networks than males, particularly among never-married individuals”, the authors note.
Additionally, those with higher educational attainment showed a greater likelihood of depression when unmarried compared to those with lower educational levels. This could reflect variations in social expectations and pressures, where individuals with higher education may feel a stronger sense of isolation or failure if they remain unmarried.
In Ireland, as at Census 2022 [2], over 320,000 adults had been through a divorce or separation. That is a lot of people. It is obviously the case that a big majority of divorced and separated adults do not fall into depression, but they are much more likely to do so than their married counters as we can see. This is an issue that merits far more study and public attention.