Linking mental health disorders to childlessness: The roles of disorder type and partnership
: Kailaheimo-Björkqvist, Sanna; Nisén, Jessica; Metsä-Simola, Niina; Martikainen, Pekka; Myrskylä, Mikko
Publisher: University of Bamberg Press
: 2026
Journal of family research
: 38
: 130
: 147
: 2699-2337
DOI: https://doi.org/10.20377/jfr-1371
: https://doi.org/10.20377/jfr-1371
: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/516007887
Objective: Drawing on a life-course perspective that emphasises partnership-related processes, we examine how different mental health disorders relate to childlessness and whether these associations are explained by partnership status and partner’s mental health.
Background: Mental health problems are increasing, while childlessness is becoming more common.
Method: We use Finnish total population register data and discrete-time event history models to estimate the annual likelihood of having a first child.
Results: All types of mental health disorders are associated with a lower likelihood of first-time childbearing. In age-controlled models, the annual probability 0.8-1.3%-points lower for women and 1.0-1.8%-points for men, with the strongest associations observed for severe mental disorders. Accounting for partner’s mental health and partnerships attenuates these associations, particularly among men (for any mental health disorder, 13% for women and 36% for men compared with age-controlled models).
Conclusion: Partnerships and partner's mental health are important in understanding the association between mental health disorders and childlessness across the life course, especially among men.
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This work was supported by the Strategic Research Council (SRC), FLUX consortium, decision numbers 364374 and 364375; by the Research Council of Finland (decision number 363724); by the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 101019329); by the Strategic Research Council (SRC) within the Academy of Finland grants for LIFECON (# 345219); by the Academy of Finland, INVEST Flagship 320162; by the National Institute on Aging (R01AG075208); by grants to the Max Planck – University of Helsinki Center from the Max Planck Society (5714240218), Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation (210046), Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Helsinki (77204227), and Cities of Helsinki, Vantaa and Espoo; and the European Union (ERC Synergy, BIOSFER, 101071773). The views and opinions expressed in the article are, however, those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Council. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.Statistics Finland's Board of Statistical Ethics (K/23/07.03.00/2024, U0256_C_22) and Findata permission (THL/6303/14.06.00/2023) have approved the use of the register data underlying this study.
