Staying in unhappy marriages and mental health of children and adolescents: A large-scale cross-sectional study in China.

BACKGROUND

Some couples remain married despite being unhappy, for the sake of their children and adolescents. However, children and adolescents in families with unhappy marriages may be chronically expose to parental conflict, potentially increasing the risk of mental health problems more than divorce itself. Although plausible, this hypothesis has rarely been empirically tested using representative data.

METHODS

This large-scale cross-sectional study involved 96,431 parent-child dyads in Chongqing, China. Participants were divided into seven groups based on parental marital status and interparental relationships. Mental health problems, including depressive and anxiety symptoms, non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicide risk, was evaluated within dyads. Multivariate logistic regression was conducted to compare the risk of mental health problems among different groups.

RESULTS

About 34.56 % to 41.56 % of parents in unhappy relationships continue their marriage. Children and adolescents in the unhappy-relationship-not-divorced parents group had higher odds of depressive and anxiety symptoms, NSSI and suicide risk compared to their peers in other groups, including those with divorced parents across different levels of interparental relationships. These findings were consistent regardless of whether the interparental relationship was reported by children and adolescents or the parents.

CONCLUSIONS

Public awareness should be raised that divorce may not be the worst option when parents are in an unhappy relationship, at least when considering the potential association with their child and adolescent mental health.