Answer:
by Mitchell Tepper: (05/16/2004)
By Mitch Tepper, Lizzi McNeff and Patti McNeff
There is not a lot of research addressing the details you are looking for, although there is brief mention that women with
disabilities have more difficulty winning child custody battles. Most studies we found are quantitative; they focus on
statistical prevalence, not real-life predicaments, and on marriage, not divorce.
Qualitative research conducted by Tepper, Richards, Komisaruk and Whipple at Rutgers explored sexuality in 15 women with
paraplegia. The results are consistent with anecdotal reports in the literature that women with disabilities experience a
higher rate of divorce and separation than do able-bodied women or disabled men. Eight of 11 women whose committed
relationships (living with or married to) had ended after spinal cord injury believed that spinal cord injury factored into the
break-up. Their partners, seven males and one female, had not been able to adjust to the permanent physical changes in their
injured partners. Relationships that were shaky at the time of injury were marked by an inability to talk about relationship
issues and about sex. Of the three women who remained married, one did so only because it was not financially feasible to
get a divorce.
Other information we have on divorce and disability comes from relatively small surveys, mostly of people with spinal cord
injury. They differ in their conclusions about the effects of disability on marriage and partnership. Overall, the studies fail to
demonstrate a clear relationship--positive or negative--between disability and marital satisfaction. Some researchers claim
that because people with more severe disabilities experience less role ambiguity, they enjoy greater marital satisfaction than
less severely disabled people. Other studies--specifically referencing people with spinal cord injury--suggest that there is no
correlation between divorce rates and severity of disability.
Yet another study reports that severity of disability has no effect on whether single males got married for the first time after
injury, but is related to whether they subsequently got divorced. The more severely disabled, it suggests, the higher the
divorce rate. Here are salient points from a few more studies of marital adjustment. Keep in mind that the great majority of
couples that participated included a male partner with spinal cord injury.
• A 1994 study of 71 couples investigated spousal adjustment--marital, personal and social--to a disability acquired by one of
the partners after marriage. It also looked for the impact of gender. The results indicate significant differences between the
adjustment of the disabled person and that of the nondisabled spouse. Interestingly, the nondisabled spouse reports more fear
of separation and a higher level of dependency.
• A 1987 study questioned 20 couples in which one spouse was spinal cord injured. Results indicate that the number of
recreational and social activities engaged in with others is the strongest predictor of positive marital adjustment, and that
there is little relationship between sexual satisfaction and marital adjustment.
• Several long-term studies of married people with spinal cord injuries conducted during the 1980s reveal differences
between marriages that take place after the onset of disability and those that occur earlier. People who marry after injury
report greater satisfaction with their sex lives, living arrangements, social lives, health, emotional adjustment and control
over their lives. They feel loneliness is less of a problem. Divorce rates for people who get married after one spouse is
injured are lower than for the general population, and also lower than people who were married before one of the partners
was injured.
• A 1985 study reports that women, younger people and spouses who have
been previously divorced have a higher likelihood of being divorced after spinal cord injury.
Clearly there is a need for more qualitative research on the important questions you raise regarding divorce and people with
disabilities, and for input from people with disabilities. New Mobility readers can help: look for a future In The Loop question
addressing this issue.
Reviewed by: Kelly Ace PhD,
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