• Posted August 3, 2026

Does Childhood Divorce Increase Kids' Risk Of Adult Depression — Or Is It Other Parental Problems?

Kids whose parents divorce have higher odds of depression in adulthood — but the marital split might not be the main driver of these mood disorders.

Children of divorce have a 41% increased risk of depression as adults, researchers reported July 29 in the journal Psychiatry Research.

But that increased risk virtually disappeared after researchers accounted for parents’ mental illness and substance use, their study found.

"People may assume that divorce itself is what puts children at risk for depression later in life, but our findings suggest the story is far more complex," lead researcher Mary Kate Schilke said in a news release. She’s a lecturer in psychology at Tyndale University in Canada.

"The family challenges that often occur alongside divorce, particularly parental mental illness and substance use, appear to be much more important in explaining long-term depression risk,” Schilke said.

For the new study, researchers analyzed data for more than 128,000 U.S. adults gathered as part of a federal survey on health risk factors between 2021 and 2024.

Nearly 1 in 5 people whose parents divorced said they’d grown up with a parent who suffered from a mental illness, researchers found. By comparison, more than 1 in 10 people whose parents remained married reported parental mental health problems.

In addition, parental substance use disorders were twice as common among children of divorce, 35% versus 15% for those whose parents remained married.

Mental illness and substance use can contribute to relationship strain between parents, and to household stress that leaves its mark on the minds of young children, researchers said.

However, many parents struggling with mental health or substance use can and do create positive home environments for their children, particularly when they allow others to support them, researchers said.

"Supporting parents who are struggling with mental illness and substance use disorders may be one of the most effective ways to improve the long-term well-being of their children," researcher Philip Baiden, an associate professor of social work at the University of Texas at Arlington, said in a news release. 

"Our findings underscore the importance of accessible mental health and substance-use services for families," he added.

The study also found that adults whose parents never married had 31% higher odds of depression, compared to those whose parents remained married throughout their childhood.

But again, this link appeared to be due to mental illness and substance abuse among parents. After accounting for those factors, the association was no longer statistically significant.

"We know remarkably little about the long-term mental health of adults whose parents never married, even though this family background is becoming increasingly common," said senior researcher Esme Fuller-Thomson, a professor of social work at the University of Toronto.

"Our findings suggest that the higher risk of depression observed in this group is largely attributable to other childhood adversities, particularly parental mental illness and parental substance use,” she said in a news release.

Overall, the prevalence of depression was 14% among those with continuously married parents; 19% among those whose parents divorced; and nearly 19% among those whose parents never married.

"This study suggests that children's future mental health is influenced less by their parents' marital status than by the challenges they experience while growing up," Fuller-Thomson concluded. 

"Efforts to reduce parental mental illness and substance use could have benefits that extend far beyond parents themselves and help improve mental health across generations," she added.

More information

The Child Mind Institute has more on supporting kids during a divorce.

SOURCE: University of Toronto, news release, July 30, 2026