The effect of divorce on depression: A new approach

In the 20th century, divorce rates have increased rapidly. At the end of this century, around 45% of all marriages ended in a divorce (Amato, 2010). Although these divorce rates seem to decrease, the number of marital dissolutions are still historically high. Only in the 28 countries of the European Union (EU) 1,892,000 couples divorced in 2015. The divorce rate increased from 0.8 per 1.000 in 1965 to 1.9 in 2016 (EUROSTAT, 2018). The main problem of this is that an increase in marital dissolutions is found to be correlated with negative (mental) health outcomes (Amato, 2010).