Traditional Arabian marriages and mental health in a group of outpatient Saudis.

This is a prospective study of 150 consecutive outpatients who were either married or divorced. Marriage custom in Saudi Arabia is unique to the culture of that country and several different kinds of marriage are identified: arranged marriage of cousins; marriage of a couple who have not met before consummation; marriage of a couple who have met once before consummation; forced marriage; and, rarely, marriage preceded by a period of courtship. Marital discord defined by the patients as fully or partially responsible for their presenting symptoms, was correlated with the different kinds of marriage. Discord was found to be more likely when the couple had never met or when there had been a period of courtship; more likely associated with anxiety and dysthymic disorders; and to affect females more than males. Polygamy was a definite stress. The consanguinous marriage had a higher rate of marital discord than the non-consanguinous, but this was found to be not statistically significant. In 40% of discordant, consanguinous marriages the discord was directly related to the degree of consanguinity.