Statistics on Alcoholic Marriages: An Overview

Abstract

This paper is a brief American literature review reporting on (1) the percentage of alcoholics who marry, (2) the percentage who separate or divorce, and (3) the temporal relationship between date of marriage and onset of alcoholism. All studies discussed control for age and compare results to a general population. The authors show that early studies suggested that alcoholics were an unsocialized and homeless group of people who were not likely to marry whereas later research showed that alcoholics are just as likely as persons in the general population to marry but are at least four times more likely to separate or divorce. Multiple variables account for the high rate of marital disruption. The literature is conflicting regarding whether people tend to marry before or after the onset of alcoholism. Future research must delineate relevant psychological and sociocultural variables in addition to the alcoholism itself.