Neuropsychological and emotional correlates of marital status and ability to live independently in individuals with epilepsy.

Studies from several countries have reported that fewer people with epilepsy marry, but the reasons for this are not clear. In the present investigation, 178 adults with epilepsy were divided into married, separated/divorced, and never married groups. The never married group was subdivided into persons living in dependent versus independent settings. The groups did not differ with respect to seizure type, age at onset of seizures, and related variables. All were administered a complete battery of neuropsychological tests and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. On all tests of abilities, the married and the never married independent groups had the best scores, the separated/divorced group was intermediate, and the never married dependent group had by far the lowest scores. In the emotional area, however, the separated/divorced group had the poorest scores and the other groups were indistinguishable from each other. It appears that marital status is more related to emotional adjustment than to mental abilities, and that independent living skills are more related to mental abilities than to emotional adjustment.