Parental mental health and union dissolution: The role of conflict during separation

Based on chronic stress theory, this study explores the effect of separation on parental mental health, operationalized over the State-Trait Depression Scale (STDS). It investigates depression trajectories surrounding separation and examines how patterns differ by the conflict level during separation. Data comes from the German Family Panel pairfam (N = 2779 partnered and 633 separated parents). The analysis spans the period from two years before to two years after separation and draws on fixed-effects regression models with dynamic treatment effects. Results show that depression trajectories are strongly shaped by pre-separation conflict levels. Parents who experience more amicable separations typically show an increase in depression scores around the time of the separation-suggesting separation acts as a short-term stressor. In contrast, those who go through high-conflict separations tend to exhibit elevated levels of depression in the years leading up to the separation but show improvement afterward. In such cases, union dissolution can be a pathway to improved mental well-being. Overall, the findings demonstrate that the mental health consequences of separation cannot be understood without considering the separation process itself. They highlight that depression trajectories are shaped by pre-separation conflict and underscore the importance of viewing separation as a dynamic life-course transition rather than a discrete event.