| Abstract: | Used multiple discriminant analysis to study relationships among marital history groups in a sample of approximately 2,000 psychiatric patients. Severity of psychiatric symptomatology in 18 areas was rated on the brief psychiatric rating scale. Number of marriages, rather than divorces or separations, was recognized to be the salient variable with regard to the nature of manifest psychopathology. Never married, once married, and multiply married differed significantly in symptom profiles. The never married tended to evidence more emotional withdrawal and thinking disturbance; the once married evidenced more depressive symptomatology; and the multiply married tended to have lower levels of all types of symptomatology. The hypothesis is advanced that number of marriages may be related to increasing levels of social effectiveness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
