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Background: The family is the first and the most important source for fulfilling needs of human beings including love, satisfaction and peace. One serious difficulty in couple's lives is the phenomenon of divorce, which recently has been increasing in Iran. Divorce has a lot of negative effects, both physical and psychological, on couples.
Objective: The aim of this study was to compare mental disorders between the couples who were divorced and normal couples in a town in Iran.
Method: This research was causal –comparative on couples in Sirjan in 2010. Seventy couples were chosen voluntarily and randomly based on the duration of their marriage from couples applying for divorce and refereeing to the administration of justice and normal couples. The questionnaire symptom checklist-90-revised (SCL-90-R) was used. The data were collected and analyzed.
Results: The averages of mental disorder scores between two groups in nine dimensions were compared and showed different significances. People who had gotten divorced had more high scores comparing the total coefficient of global severity index (GSI). The findings revealed that the divorced couples had higher GSIs and a significant correlation was observed (p<0.05). In addition the average Positive Symptom Total (PST) was higher (59.03±24.09) for divorced couples compared to normal couples (40.9±24.25) There was a significant correlation, too (p<0.05). Comparing positive symptom distress indexes (PSDI) between the two groups using the t-test showed a different significance (p<0.05).
Conclusion: The results of the present study illustrated that divorced couples had higher GSI, PST and PSDI (P<0.05). In order to deal with divorce complications, background factors and variables must be considered that lead to the increase in divorce in the community.