A study conducted in Finland found that people with a genetic predisposition to depression tended to buy more antidepressants in the years before a relationship ended (perhaps during the most conflictual period). Interestingly, only women showed a short-term increase in antidepressant use after union *formation*. The paper was published in. marriage and family journal.
Romantic relationships can be an important source of emotional security, companionship, and support. However, they can also be a major source of stress. Partners continually influence each other through their communication, emotional responses, expectations, and daily actions. When someone experiences anxiety, depression, or other psychological difficulties, the effects tend to extend beyond the individual and shape entire relationships. At the same time, interpersonal conflict, rejection, anxiety, or lack of emotional support can contribute to the development or worsening of mental health problems.
Researchers are increasingly thinking of romantic partners as part of an interconnected system rather than as two completely independent individuals. Patterns of criticism, withdrawal, excessive reassurance seeking, emotional dependence, and poor conflict resolution can increase distress for both partners. In contrast, empathy, trust, reactive communication, and constructive problem solving protect psychological health and help couples cope with adversity.
Attachment styles, personality traits, emotional regulation, and past relationship experiences all influence how partners interpret and respond to each other. Such dynamics can create either positive cycles of mutual support or negative cycles where distress and relationship difficulties repeatedly exacerbate each other.
Philipp Dierker, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, and colleagues investigated whether mental health trajectories surrounding the formation and dissolution of romantic partnerships depend on genetic propensity for depression.
They hypothesized that people with a genetically higher propensity for depression would have a stronger increase in antidepressant purchases (and therefore use) after a romantic partnership was dissolved. They also hypothesized that these people would increase their purchases of antidepressants after a romantic partnership was formed, and that this trend would be more pronounced for women than for men.
The study authors analyzed data from the FINRISK study collected between 1992 and 2012 and the 2000 and 2011 health surveys conducted by the Finnish Institute of Health and Welfare Biobank. The FINRISK study conducted health screenings of individuals aged 25 to 74 years living in seven specific geographical regions of Finland. All surveys were designed to collect representative samples of the Finnish population.
The study authors combined this data with information from several national registries in Finland. Data from the registry included partnership status, antidepressant purchase, education, and age.
For this analysis, the study authors used data from 36,961 individuals for whom both genetic and registry information was available. This study examined the period from 1997 to 2019. During this period, 7,888 of these individuals experienced the formation of a romantic partnership and 7,375 experienced the dissolution of their union. The researchers analyzed antidepressant purchasing patterns five years before and five years after the relationship change.
The results showed that 7.7% of study participants purchased antidepressants in the year they started their relationship. Meanwhile, 14% purchased antidepressants in the year the union dissolved.
People with a genetic predisposition to depression increased their purchase of antidepressants four to five years before union dissolution, decreased as the union approached dissolution, and then disappeared. The study authors explain that this suggests that the period leading up to separation is likely to be the most conflictual and stressful. People who are genetically predisposed to depression may be more sensitive to this decline in relationships.
After union formation, women with a genetic predisposition to depression increased their purchases of antidepressants in the short term, but men showed no gene-environment interaction. This finding contradicts the theory that forming unions broadly improves the mental health of genetically vulnerable people. However, the authors note that the start of a new union may encourage partners to seek help from the other partner or continue with their existing regimen, which could explain the increase.
“While our findings highlight the importance of the anticipatory period before separation as a window of heightened vulnerability shaped by genetic predispositions, they show little evidence that genetic predispositions moderate responses to transitions in both partnerships,” the study authors concluded.
This study contributes to the scientific understanding of the link between romantic partnership dynamics and mental health. However, there are limitations to using antidepressant purchases as a proxy for mental health, as antidepressants are also prescribed for anxiety, sleep disorders, and chronic pain. This means that the study captures a broader range of stress-related responses than just clinical depression.
Furthermore, this study was observational, meaning that we cannot rule out reverse causation, where the conflict may have caused the relationship conflict that led to the breakup, rather than the conflict causing the depression. It should also be noted that the study participants were exclusively residents of Finland, and the results may be different in other cultural groups.
The paper, “Are mental health trajectories around partnership transitions shaped by genetics?” was authored by Philipp Dierker, Maria Gueltzow, Hannu Lahtinen, Mine Kühn, Pekka Martikainen, and Mikko Myrskylä.
