The role of marital status in health services expenditures for psychiatric outpatients.
This study tested the hypothesis that married psychiatric outpatients would have lower total health services expenditures than divorced or separated patients. Chart review of the 471 individuals attending an academic medical center outpatient psychiatric clinic during 1994 identified 131 married, 40 separated, and 93 divorced patients. Separated men had significantly higher average total charges ($16,890) than married ($5,279) or divorced ($5,539) men by one-way ANOVA (p < .05). The nonparametric Mann-Whitney test also showed that separated men had higher charges than married or divorced men. There were no differences between marital status groups for women.
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157, USA. denton@wfubmc.edu
W H
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Denton
D L
DL
Reynolds
B R
BR
Burleson
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RT
Anderson
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D005196:Family Therapy / Q000191:economics*; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status; D008393:Marriage / Q000523:psychology; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D008875:Middle Aged