Marital Satisfaction Among Spouses of Male Patients with Alcohol Dependence Syndrome

Abstract

BACKGROUND One third of Indians consume alcohol and there is an alarming annual increase in alcohol consumption. Majority of spouses of alcohol dependent males are also the primary care-takers of their husbands and are at risk of domestic violence. Marital dissatisfaction could reduce their involvement in getting their spouses treated for alcohol dependence. Our aim was to study the marital satisfaction among the spouses of patients with alcohol dependence. METHODOLOGY This study was conducted on spouses of male patients with alcohol dependence syndrome attending the psychiatry department of a tertiary care medical college hospital in Kanchipuram District in Tamilnadu. 200 consecutive male patients with alcohol dependence syndrome using the ICD 10 criteria were recruited. Severity of alcohol dependence was assessed using Short Alcohol Dependence Data (SADD). Marital satisfaction among the spouses was assessed using ENRICH Marital Satisfaction (EMS) Scale. Analysis of the data was done using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.0. RESULTS The mean age of alcohol dependent men and their spouses were 43.05±9.39 and 37.58±8.86 years respectively. Most of the spouses (83.5%) had done their primary education only and 50% were house-wives (unemployed). Majority of men earned between Rs.5000 to 10,000 and most of them were unskilled workers belonging to the lower socio-economic group in the rural areas. The mean SADD and EMS scores were 25.05 ± 8.891 and 31.76 ± 14.45 respectively. 74% of men in our study population were highly dependent on alcohol. Amongst the spouses of men with severe dependence 68.9% reported moderate and 28.3% reported low marital satisfaction. DISCUSSION and CONCLUSION Majority of alcohol dependent men suffered from severe dependence. An inverse relationship between marital satisfaction scores and severity of alcohol dependence was observed. Alcohol dependence and its severity was noted to have an adverse impact on marital satisfaction among spouses of the dependent patients.