Genetic Risk for Mental Health Issues Is Linked to Higher Divorce Rates

People who get divorced tend to have higher genetic predispositions for psychiatric disorders, even if they never develop these conditions themselves, according to a Rutgers Health analysis of millions of marital histories in Sweden.

Researchers involved in the study published in Clinical Psychological Science found divorced individuals had a higher genetic risk than people in stable marriages for conditions such as depression, anxiety and substance use disorders. This pattern held even when researchers excluded people who showed signs of having actually developed whatever disorders their genes predisposed them toward.

"We found that individuals who are genetically predisposed to psychiatric disorders and other behavioral health conditions like alcohol use disorder and drug use disorder are at increased risk of experiencing a divorce," said lead author Jessica Salvatore, an associate professor of psychiatry with Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and director of the Genes, Environment, and Neurodevelopment in Addictions program in the Center for Psychiatric Health and Genomics at Rutgers University.

The study analyzed anonymized data from 2.8 million Swedish residents born between 1950 and 1980, tracking their marriages and divorces through 2018. The database lacked genetic test data, so researchers calculated genetic risk scores based on psychiatric diagnoses among extended family members.

The genetic predispositions for mental health issues appeared particularly strong in people who divorced multiple times. Those who divorced three or more times had genetic risk scores for depression and anxiety that nearly matched those of people diagnosed with these conditions.

Women who divorced showed higher genetic risk scores for all disorders compared with divorced men. The study also found people who went on to have stable second marriages had lower genetic risk scores than those who either divorced again or never remarried.

"These genetic predispositions influence major life outcomes for us in a multitude of ways, and oftentimes people don't think about the association that genetic predispositions might have on a life outcome like divorce," Salvatore said.

The researchers examined genetic risk patterns for 10 psychiatric conditions: major depression, anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, anorexia nervosa, alcohol use disorder, drug use disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorder.

They calculated these risks by analyzing diagnoses among study participants' first- through fifth-degree relatives, weighted by the degree of genetic relatedness. For example, a person with multiple affected first-degree relatives would have a higher genetic risk score than someone with few affected distant relatives.

The findings suggest that genetic factors may influence divorce risk through multiple pathways. People with higher genetic risk scores might be more prone to relationship-challenging traits such as impulsivity or emotional instability, even if they never develop a diagnosed condition. These predispositions also could affect how people choose partners or respond to relationship stress.

Marriage is associated with lower levels of these genetic risks. The study found that people in stable marriages had lower genetic risk scores across all disorders compared with both divorced and never-married individuals.

The researchers say their findings provide some of the most comprehensive evidence to date about how genetic predispositions for psychiatric disorders may influence marital outcomes. Understanding these connections could someday help identify couples at higher risk and potentially guide interventions to support relationship stability.

"Beyond documenting the nature of these associations, there are a few practical implications," Salvatore said. "One of the things that our study can help bring awareness to is that even if an individual is not personally affected by a disorder, carrying genetic predispositions for these disorders can be destabilizing for a relationship."

Coauthors include Henrik Ohlsson, Jan Sundquist and Kristina Sundquist, from Lund University in Sweden and Kenneth S. Kendler from the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics at Virginia Commonwealth University.