Husbands’ SUD is associated with higher levels of co-occurringnext term but not non-previous termco-occurringnext term psychiatric previous termdisordersnext term among their wives

Substance use among husbands has been shown to be associated with higher rates of substance use and of psychiatric symptoms among their wives. However, substance use previous termdisordersnext term (SUD) and psychiatric previous termdisordersnext term (as opposed to substance use or psychiatric symptoms) are rarely rigorously assessed among large samples of couples, so it is unclear whether SUD among husbands are associated with SUD among their wives, and whether the wives also display a higher prevalence of previous termco-occurringnext term or non-previous termco-occurringnext term psychiatric previous termdisorders.next term We compared the level of SUD, of previous termco-occurringnext term (with SUD) psychiatric previous termdisorders,next term and of non-previous termco-occurringnext term psychiatric diagnoses among the wives of males with SUDs vs among the wives of males without SUDs. We hypothesized that the presence of SUDs among males would be associated with a higher level of SUDs, of previous termco-occurringnext term psychiatric previous termdisorders,next term and of non-previous termco-occurringnext term psychiatric previous termdisordersnext term in their wives.Method The subjects in this study were the spouses of adult men with a lifetime history of an SUD (SUD+ husbands, N = 342) vs those with no lifetime history of an SUD (SUD- husbands, N = 350). These subjects were recruited for participation in a longitudinal project designed to elucidate the etiology of substance use previous termdisorders.next term Results previous termCo-occurringnext term SUDs were five times more common among the spouses of SUD+ husbands than among the spouses of SUD- husbands (10.2% vs 2.0%, chi-square = 19.7, p = 0.000). SUD/depressive previous termdisordernext term and SUD/anxiety previous termdisordernext term were both seven times more common among the spouses of SUD+ husbands than among the spouses of SUD- husbands (19.4% vs 4.7%, chi-square = 45.8, p = 0.000; 14.3% vs 2.0%, chi-square = 34.5, p = 0.000). In contrast, non-previous termco-occurringnext term depressive previous termdisordersnext term and non-previous termco-occurringnext term anxiety previous termdisordersnext term were not more common among the wives of the SUD+ husbands than among the SUD- husbands.ConclusionsThese findings demonstrate that SUD and previous termco-occurringnext term psychiatric previous termdisordersnext term (with SUD) are more common among the spouses of SUD+ husbands than among the spouses of SUD- husbands, but non-previous termco-occurringnext term (pure) psychiatric previous termdisordersnext term are not more common among the spouses of the SUD+ husbands.