Urban Females with Psychosis in China More Likely to be Unmarried Than Rural Counterparts

Social integration for people with psychosis in low- and middle-income countries is an important issue that might facilitate or hinder their recovery. However, this issue has rarely been investigated across urban versus rural settings in the same country. A paper by Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health's Lawrence Yang, PhD, associate professor of Epidemiology; Ezra Susser, MD, professor of Epidemiology; and Michael Phillips, professor of clinical Psychiatry and clinical Epidemiology, titled “Marriage outcome and relationship with urban versus rural context for individuals with psychosis in a population-based study in China” found that while urban and rural residents had similar impairments due to symptoms, urban female residents with psychosis were 2.72 times more likely to be unmarried than their rural counterparts. Further analyses indicated that this marital disadvantage occurred primarily among urban females with an earlier age of onset.  Findings were published in the October issue of Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology.

The researchers examined marriage outcomes for individuals with psychosis in urban versus rural settings in China in four provinces representing 12 percent of China’s population. Nearly 400 individuals with psychosis were studied.

“The data suggest that urban women with earlier age of onset have difficulty in obtaining marriage, which may be related to economic expectations of women in urban areas,” said Dr. Yang. “This research is especially significant given the rapid urbanization of China and how it might adversely affect social integration opportunities for people with psychosis.