Marital role, education, and mental disorder among women: test of an interaction hypothesis

The relationship of marital status and mental disorder among married and never married women is examined in a probability sample of four midwestern communities. A statistically significant interaction of marital status and educational attainment on mental disorder was found with the married having more disorder than the never married among women of lower educational attainment, both before and after introducing controls for age and employment status. No significant differences in mental disorder were found among women with high school or higher educational attainment. These findings suggest the advisability of refining current marital role explanations for mental disorder among women.