Marital dissolutions and changes in mental health: Evidence from rural Malawi

Abstract

Background 2 Objective 3 Context: Marital dissolutions and strategy in Malawi 4 Guiding research questions 5 Data and methods 5.1 Study details 5.2 Variables 5.3 Regression choices 5.4 HIV considerations and sensitivity analyses 6 Descriptive results 7 Multivariate results 8 Discussion 9 Limitations 10 Theoretical contributions

Marital experiences and depressive symptoms among older adults in rural South Africa

“…The authors offer the possible explanations that divorce may empower women in ways that benefit their mental health, or that mentally healthy women experience more marriages because they are more likely to remarry. Meanwhile, results for men more closely mirror findings in Western settings: Spending more time outside of marriage is associated with worse mental health ( Myroniuk et al., 2021 ). On the other hand, another study in the same Malawian setting found that being formally married was associated with worse psychological well-being for men and women alike, and this was more pronounced among those in reproductive ages ( Clark et al., 2020 ).…”

“…However, the magnitude of associations between marital dissolution and self-rated health was weaker than anticipated, suggesting that people in such settings who survive to older ages may be selective on factors that make them more resilient against the potential negative impacts of marital dissolution ( Myroniuk, 2016 ). These studies offer important insight into the interrelationships between marriage and health in SSA settings, but they are limited in their sample sizes and their ability to distinguish between effects of widowhood versus divorce ( Clark et al., 2020 ; Myroniuk et al., 2021 ).…”

“…For example, studies in South Asia, where arranged marriage is still common and the nature of marriage remains highly patriarchal and patrilineal, have found that marriage may be harmful to women's mental health ( Axinn et al., 2020 ). Similarly, a study in Malawi found that experiencing more marital dissolutions can be beneficial to women's mental health ( Myroniuk et al., 2021 ). The authors offer the possible explanations that divorce may empower women in ways that benefit their mental health, or that mentally healthy women experience more marriages because they are more likely to remarry.…”

“…Individuals’ marital histories are often complex in SSA settings ( Boileau et al., 2009 ; Budlender et al., 2004 ; Myroniuk et al., 2021 ; Reniers, 2003 ). In South Africa, these complexities and the current marital and gender dynamics are uniquely tied to the legacy of apartheid.…”

Dynamics of Union Dissolution in Sub‐Saharan Africa

“…Early termination of first marriages implies prolonged exposure to these living arrangements, and most likely when the children affected were at young ages. Studies indeed suggest that an early experience of marital dissolution during the life course (Alter, Dribe, and Van Poppel 2007;McLanahan and Sandefur 2009;O'Flaherty et al 2016) and longer durations spent outside marriage following a union dissolution (Berntsen and Kravdal 2012;Dupre and Meadows 2007;Jennings, Chinogurei, and Adams 2022;Myroniuk, Kohler, and Kohler 2021) are associated with poorer health and well-being for individuals who experience these events, and the affected children. Therefore, it is important to know not only if a union dissolution is experienced over the life course but also when it occurs, whether the individual remarries, and how much time is spent in partnered versus unpartnered states.…”