Associations between marital distress and work loss in a national sample

This study presents analyses of data from the National Comorbidity Survey to assess the extent to which problems within marriage spill over to produce work loss. Results indicate that marital distress is positively associated with work loss-particularly among men in their first 10 years of marriage. Based on the average earnings of participants, work loss associated with marital problems translates into a loss of approximately $6.8 billion per year. These findings suggest that family interventions targeted at the prevention of marital problems may result in important psychosocial and economic benefits for business and society.