Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42028793›Full record

Observational studyBritish journal of health psychology2026

Divorce conflict and health across the divorce process: A 10-year observational study of medicine prescriptions, primary care visits and hospitalisations.

Andreas Nielsen Hald, Gert Martin Hald, Peter Fallesen

Abstract readObservational Study
In one paragraph

Observational study in British journal of health psychology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Andreas Nielsen HaldDepartment of Public Health, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4451-0542
Gert Martin HaldDepartment of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, København K, Denmark.
Peter FallesenSwedish Institute for Social Research, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.

Funding

Rockwool Fonden
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesThis study examines the association between divorce conflict and medicine prescriptions, primary care visits and hospitalisations, over a 10-year period around juridical divorce.

designA longitudinal observational study was conducted using a cohort of 1784 Danes who divorced between 2015 and 2017. Conflict was measured with the validated Divorce Conflict Scale, and health outcomes were obtained from national registers.

methodsNegative binomial and logistic regression models examined the relationship between divorce conflict and health outcomes, controlling for prior health status, demographic factors and socioeconomic variables. Analyses included sensitivity tests to explore pre- and post-divorce health patterns, and an exploratory analysis of health trajectories based on conflict levels.

resultsA one-standard deviation increase in divorce conflict was associated with a significant 28% increase in medicine prescriptions, a 5% increase in primary care visits, and 13% higher odds of hospitalisation in the 5 years following juridical divorce. Sensitivity analyses showed that these associations were robust but also varied depending on the pre-divorce health period, highlighting the importance of pre-divorce health in explaining outcomes. Exploratory analyses indicated that high-conflict divorcees had consistently elevated health trajectories across all outcomes, with a significantly steeper increase in primary care visits before divorce compared to those with average or low conflict.

conclusionsHigh-conflict divorcees experienced consistently worse health outcomes, including more medicine prescriptions, primary care visits and hospitalisations, both before and after divorce. These findings stress the importance of conceptualising divorce as a process and addressing conflict during the divorce process to mitigate long-term health consequences.

Indexed as

DivorceHealth StatusHospitalizationPrimary Health CareAdultDenmarkFemaleHumansLongitudinal StudiesMaleMiddle Ageddivorce conflictdivorce stress adjustmenthealthcare usehealth trajectorieshigh conflictlongitudinal studymental health

Identifiers

PMID42028793
PMCPMC13107497

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.