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Divorce is significantly more common for bipolar, paranoid, and schizophrenic people for example is that really a significant factor? i'd think that the number

by em-bee 3y ago

Divorce is significantly more common for bipolar, paranoid, and schizophrenic people for example is that really a significant factor? i'd think that the number of people suffering from mental issues is a minority, and even if in their group are more divorces, those should only be a fraction of the total number of divorces.

Retric 3y ago
Yes, because either parent could have menial issues. Especially when you include things like gambling addiction which are also linked to divorce. ~2.8% of the population has bipolar disorder. The odds that one partner at the start of a relationship is bipolar should be ~5.6%. 1% of the population is schizophrenic so ~2% of the population. We aren’t quite up to 7.6% of relationships just from those 2 groups because there’s overlap but it does stack. Granted I haven’t done the research to pin down exact numbers but higher rates of divorce operates in both directions. So stable couples are healthier than average and divorced couples are worse than average.
- jamespo 3y ago
  Maybe nonstable are less likely to have relationships / kids
  - somehnguy 3y ago
    Maybe, but over my 30 years every piece of anecdotal evidence I’ve seen *and* the movie Idiocracy says the exact opposite.
  - Retric 3y ago
    Sure, which is why you want actual real research. Still something like 16-25% of the overall population has some form of diagnosable mental illness, couples have 2 people, and divorced are more likely to have various conditions. So the effect size would need to be huge for this not to be relevant.
  - lazide 3y ago
    More like the exact opposite, at least recently.
- hadlock 3y ago
  Post a generality on HN and you're bound to get corrected by the math police. Most studies agree that bipolar disorder is not evenly distributed across the sexes. Schizophrenia is roughly equal but occurs for men before/during peak childbearing years, and for women happens after.
  - Retric 3y ago
    > Most studies agree that bipolar disorder is not evenly distributed across the sexes. I don’t think that actually impacts the statistics here the way you think it would. Suppose 2% of the population had X. If 1% of women had X, ~3% of men would have X and therefore ~4% of couples would. Nailing down the differences in divorce rates, age of onset, differences in rates of relationship formation, etc are all worth considering. But my point was simply it’s significant not that I had calculated some exact number.

by em-bee 3y ago

Retric 3y ago

Yes, because either parent could have menial issues. Especially when you include things like gambling addiction which are also linked to divorce. ~2.8% of the population has bipolar disorder. The odds that one partner at the start of a relationship is bipolar should be ~5.6%. 1% of the population is schizophrenic so ~2% of the population. We aren’t quite up to 7.6% of relationships just from those 2 groups because there’s overlap but it does stack. Granted I haven’t done the research to pin down exact numbers but higher rates of divorce operates in both directions. So stable couples are healthier than average and divorced couples are worse than average.

jamespo 3y ago
Maybe nonstable are less likely to have relationships / kids
- somehnguy 3y ago
  Maybe, but over my 30 years every piece of anecdotal evidence I’ve seen *and* the movie Idiocracy says the exact opposite.
- Retric 3y ago
  Sure, which is why you want actual real research. Still something like 16-25% of the overall population has some form of diagnosable mental illness, couples have 2 people, and divorced are more likely to have various conditions. So the effect size would need to be huge for this not to be relevant.
- lazide 3y ago
  More like the exact opposite, at least recently.
hadlock 3y ago
Post a generality on HN and you're bound to get corrected by the math police. Most studies agree that bipolar disorder is not evenly distributed across the sexes. Schizophrenia is roughly equal but occurs for men before/during peak childbearing years, and for women happens after.
- Retric 3y ago
  > Most studies agree that bipolar disorder is not evenly distributed across the sexes. I don’t think that actually impacts the statistics here the way you think it would. Suppose 2% of the population had X. If 1% of women had X, ~3% of men would have X and therefore ~4% of couples would. Nailing down the differences in divorce rates, age of onset, differences in rates of relationship formation, etc are all worth considering. But my point was simply it’s significant not that I had calculated some exact number.