Long after the split: The association between parental divorce and mental health in adults

The objective of the current study was to examine the association between adult mental illness and parental marital history (never married, continuously married, divorced during respondents' childhood).

The authors used combined data from the 2021-2024 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. The analytic sample included 128,264 adults (52.4% female) who had never experienced childhood sexual or physical abuse. Data analysis involved developing a series of logistic regression models to assess the association between childhood parental marital status and mental health outcomes. The authors also examined relevant covariates including adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), health behaviours, and social factors.

Adult children of divorced and unmarried parents were significantly more likely to report frequent mental distress in the past month (13.6% and 16.3%, respectively) than those whose parents remained married (8.5%), as well as a depression diagnosis at some point in their lives (19.2% and 18.7%, respectively) than those whose parents remained married (14.1%). Adjustment for parental mental illness attenuated the association between parental divorce and adult depression by 68% and between unmarried parental status and adult depression by 52%.

In comparison to respondents with continuously married parents, those who experienced parental divorce in childhood or who had unmarried parents had elevated odds of mental health problems in adulthood. The association between parental marital status and later mental health problems was largely attenuated when parental mental illness was taken into account.