Mental disorder and first-time marriage formation among non-Western migrant women: A national register study

Abstract

Purpose Studies show that there is a mental health selection into marriage among the general population. This study explored the association between mental disorder and marriage formation among non-Western migrant women living in Norway, and whether the association varied with region of origin, income, education and having a dependent child. Methods Using linked national register data, we followed 49,329 non-Western never married migrant women aged 18-60 living in Norway between 2006 and 2014. As a proxy for mental disorders, we investigated whether outpatient mental health service use was associated with marital formation using discrete time logistic regression analyses. Result Overall, outpatient mental health service use was associated with lower odds of marital formation, even after controlling for sociodemographic factors. Interaction analyses suggested that the relationship was weaker for South Asian women, who had the highest odds of marriage formation, compared with Sub-Saharan African women, who had the lowest. The relationship was also stronger for women with children and women with low incomes. Conclusion Mental health selection effects may depend on the universality of marriage. Since marriage may be associated with psychosocial and economic benefits, it is important to identify and treat mental disorder among non-Western migrant women, particularly those with childcare responsibilities and low income.

Intersectionality in studying and theorizing singlehood

“…A different perspective applies to people of Asian descent who marry in relatively higher numbers than many Americans (Brown et al, 2022; Covarrubias et al, 2019) and native European groups (Straiton et al, 2022). In this sense, social and family pressure is higher, especially for Asian women (Chan & Kiang, 2021; Shi & Lievens, 2022).…”

Spousal religious difference, marital satisfaction, and psychological well‐being of Chinese older adults

“…The significance level for all analyses was set as .05. The data analyses were performed using Stata 14.0 (StataCorp, 2015).…”

“…Similar gendered experience in marital satisfaction and psychological well‐being was also observed in marriages across other cultural groups. For example, Straiton et al (2022) investigated the experience of couples in intermarriage and found that women entering a transnational marriage for migration to Europe increased spousal dependency and disempowerment, which may lead to worse mental health status and may need to adapt their lifestyle to their partner. Potarca & Bernardi (2021) reported that native German women who entered intermarriage reported a significant drop in subjective well‐being.…”