A study on social factors and magnitude of mental health problem among women with marital disharmony

Abstract

Background: Marital disharmony is a widespread phenomenon that is largely hidden. The single most important factor that determines the quality of the family is the quality of marriage that supports it. Rapid socio-economic transitions in our society have led to increasing trends in marital disharmony thus emerging as an important social problem with grave consequences. This study was undertaken to identify the key social factors which contributed towards development of mental health problems among the affected women . Methods: The present cross sectional study was conducted at a family counselling centre located in Davangere city where a total of 53 participants, who registered and availed the short term stay facility in the centre and who consented to participate in the study were administered a questionnaire to assess socio-demographic factors and were interviewed using Goldberg’s 12 item general health questionnaire (GHQ) as a screening tool for the presence of psychiatric morbidity. Hamilton’s rating scales for anxiety and depression were then used for confirmation. Results: Each of the female subjects mostly in the age group 22-26 years (35.8%) were facing some degree of marital discord; the largest proportion (47.2%) facing problems for periods greater than a year. The commonest reasons for discord were found to be physical harassment (32.1%) and dowry-seeking (20.8%).56.6% of the women suffered from mild to moderate degree of depression. Among the spouses, addictions were seen in 60.4 %. After counseling, 81% were willing for a compromise, with the remaining 19% strongly rooting for separation from their spouses. Using univariate and multivariate analyses, it was seen that there was a strong correlation between social and familial factors and psychiatric morbidity. Conclusions: In our study we found that the overall psychiatric morbidity rates were very high; depression being the commonest. Dowry and physical harassment from the husband were the most common reasons leading to disharmony. We found that counselling works as an effective measure to sort out the issues affecting the marriage. Post personality assessment of the spouse, which could be beneficial in solving such matters should be implemented. Also, establishment of social support centers for socially dependent women could be a useful approach in managing cases of marital disharmony.