Study sheds light on why children of divorce face higher risk of lifetime depression

MedicalXpress | июл 30, 2026

A study of more than 128,000 U.S. adults found that those who experienced parental divorce during childhood had 41% higher odds of depression in adulthood than those whose parents remained married. Yet the findings suggest that parental divorce itself may not be the main driver of later depression. When parental mental illness and parental substance use were taken into account, the association between parental divorce and lifetime depression declined substantially and was no longer statistically significant.