Hospital-Treated Psychiatric Disorders in Adults with a Single-Parent and Two-Parent Family Background: A 28-Year Follow-up of the 1966 Northern Finland Birth Cohort

This study investigates the relationship between the family type (two‐parent and 4 different single‐parent types, mainly divorced) during childhood up to 14 years of age and adult hospital‐treated psychiatric disorders in a sample from the unselected, general population Northern Finland 1966 Birth C...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Family process 1998-09, Vol.37 (3), p.335-344
Main Authors: MÄKIKYRÖ, TARU, SAUVOLA, ANU, MORING, JUHA, VEIJOLA, JUHA, NIEMINEN, PENTTI, JÄRVELIN, MARJO-RIITTA, ISOHANNI, MATTI
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Adult Children
Biological and medical sciences
Confounding Factors (Epidemiology)
Divorce
Family environment. Family history
Family Structure
Female
Finland
Finland - epidemiology
Follow-Up Studies
Hospitalization
Humans
Incidence
Logistic Models
Male
Marital Disruption
Medical sciences
Mental Disorders - epidemiology
Mental Disorders - etiology
Mental Illness
Nuclear Family
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Registries
Sex Factors
Single Parent - psychology
Single Parent Family
Social psychiatry. Ethnopsychiatry
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Summary:This study investigates the relationship between the family type (two‐parent and 4 different single‐parent types, mainly divorced) during childhood up to 14 years of age and adult hospital‐treated psychiatric disorders in a sample from the unselected, general population Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort (N = 11,017). Up to the end of 1994, a total of 387 individuals (3.5%) had a hospital‐treated psychiatric disorder, with 3.1% in two‐parent families and 5.4% in single‐parent families (p < .001). The single‐parent family was not associated with the child's schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders. The adjusted odds ratios (OR) for personality disorders were highest among individuals without a father before the age of 14 years (OR 4.8), or at birth only (OR 4.0), or with a history of parental divorce (OR 2.8). Parental divorce was also associated with alcoholism (OR 3.7) and parental death with depressive disorders (OR 3.4). In conclusion, we found an elevated risk of hospital‐treated nonpsychotic disorder among individuals from a single‐parent family background. It is likely that a combination of the single‐parent family and psychosocial and/or genetic risk may influence the development of these disorders.
ISSN:0014-7370
1545-5300
DOI:10.1111/j.1545-5300.1998.00335.x