How a psychiatric condition can steer who we fall in love with
Researchers find mental health may influence who you marry
- A study of almost 15 million people across Europe and Asia found that individuals diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder are more likely to partner with someone who has the same condition.
- The pattern was observed across countries, cultures, and generations, and has not been altered by changes in psychiatric care over the past 50 years.
- The research, published in Nature Human Behaviour, analysed data from Taiwan, Denmark, and Sweden, covering nine psychiatric disorders including depression, anxiety, anorexia, and ADHD.
- The likelihood of partners sharing a diagnosis slightly increased with each decade from the 1930s to the 1990s, particularly for those with substance abuse disorders.
- The observational study also indicated that children with two parents sharing the same disorder are twice as likely to develop the condition.