Study of marital adjustment, mechanisms of coping and psychopathology in couples seeking divorce in India

Abstract

The divorce rate in India is increasing. In some cases, divorce could result from psychopathology in one of the partners or in other cases may lead to major psychopathology. Therefore it is important to identify problems in marital adjustments. This study aims to find probable reasons for divorce, how people cope with it and whether any psychopathology is associated with it. A total of 100 respondents undergoing divorce were selected after obtaining their consent and interviewed using a semi-structured pro-forma, the Dyadic Adjustment Scale, the Mechanisms of Coping Scale and the Symptom Checklist-90-R. Around 57% of divorce cases in our study were filed by women, 31% by men and 12% by mutual understanding. The primary reason for divorce in our respondents was interpersonal problems (34%). Marital adjustment was poor in 91.6% respondents, with a minimum score for dyadic cohesion and affectional expression. Fatalism, expressive action and problem solving were the commonly used coping methods. In all, 64% had significant psychopathology, with depression being the most common. Poor marital adjustment and emotion-based coping were associated with higher psychopathology, whereas parental support and having children were protective factors for psychopathology. Being in a ‘Love marriage’ was associated with good marital adjustment. Women outnumbered men in filing for divorce and in overall psychopathology.

Keywords:

• divorce
• coping
• couples
• marital adjustment
• psychopathology
• depression

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank marriage counselors in the family court, Mumbai, for helping us in recruiting the subjects.

Notes

Note: *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01