High divorce rate among nurses? Why?

Nurses General Nursing

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My husband heard something on the radio about the top 10 jobs for divorce. Of course the obvious ones like entertainment industry folks were on the list, but nurses, especially psychiatric nurses were like number 8 of 10. Can this be true? Why? And if so, why psych more so than other fields?

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My husband heard something on the radio about the top 10 jobs for divorce. Of course the obvious ones like entertainment industry folks were on the list, but nurses, especially psychiatric nurses were like number 8 of 10. Can this be true? Why? And if so, why psych more so than other fields?

High Stress, working holidays, rotating shifts, not getting off of work in a timely manner, etc.,etc. Police officers are probably high on the list too.

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Specializes in ED, ICU, MS/MT, PCU, CM, House Sup, Frontline mgr.
..., but nurses, especially psychiatric nurses were like number 8 of 10. can this be true? why? and if so, why psych more so than other fields?

maybe those nurses are more in tuned with self and know what they will and will not accept in life? or maybe being around psychiatrist all day and having to counsel people, they understand that their significant other is crazy???! just a guess... i worked psych as a non-nurse and know that you can spend a lot of time self reflecting when psych is what you do for a living. btw, i am still married. :p

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btw, i am still married. :p

see, i knew there was some good news somewhere! funny what you said about the introspection part, though. i want to go into psych and so my hubs was telling me about this radio thing as a sort of cautionary tale. when we talked about why psych nurses might have a higher rate he said the same thing you said and then he laughingly forbade me from ever psychoanalyzing our relationship or him. and then i said, "but honey, i already do that and i'm not even in the field yet." lol!

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Specializes in Psych, Med/Surg, LTC.

There is such a pressure to GIVE when you are a nurse- give up your time and mental energy, what is left for spouses? For those that seem to give their life and always jump when the phone rings to work their day off or extra long shifts, I assume not much. Sometimes it is hard to come "down" after a bad shift- you need support and "take" support from your spouse, but there isn't always much left to give. Throw in mandatory overtime when the spouse at home and is over-whelmed with kids or elderly live in parents, rotating shifts, weekends, holidays, not being allowed to use PTO when the kids are on summer vacation- Throw in a couple of young kids with a nurse who works a lot of extra, and the partner of the nurse gets left holding the bag a lot. Daycares usually aren't open for holidays and weekends, so the spouse gets kid duty. Especially since nurses can't just call off every time the kid(s) get sick- it puts extra onto the spouse. I can totally see how someone would feel they were being neglected emotionally and want to move on. I am sure many spouses of nurses feel as though the nurse puts the job before them and the family.

Also, psych nurses can smell the crazy from a mile away, and know to get out before it gets bad. :lol2:

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
my husband heard something on the radio about the top 10 jobs for divorce. of course the obvious ones like entertainment industry folks were on the list, but nurses, especially psychiatric nurses were like number 8 of 10. can this be true? why? and if so, why psych more so than other fields?

my psych nursing instructor told us that all psych nurses are crazy . . . maybe that's a factor.

i think it's the weekends, nights, holidays, etc. that and the fact that we nurses seem to have little sympathy for illness/injuries that are not life-threatening or at least life-altering.

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I am always a little suspicious of those pop "statistics" that you might hear on the radio. It is not difficult to manipulate data to show anything.

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Specializes in chemical dependency detox/psych.
my psych nursing instructor told us that all psych nurses are crazy . . . maybe that's a factor.

i think it's the weekends, nights, holidays, etc. that and the fact that we nurses seem to have little sympathy for illness/injuries that are not life-threatening or at least life-altering.

yep, we psych nurses are all a little....off. when you see and hear the things i have, day after day, well, your sense of humor and world-view become slightly skewed. the thing is, i was mostly like this even before i went into this field, so it really hasn't affected our marriage negatively. my hubby and i have been married almost 20 years, and we get along swimmingly. about the only thing is that my hubby now says is that i know way too much about illegal drugs, as in, "that chicky that just checked out our groceries was definitely high. her pupils were super-dilated. and did you see the track marks on her arms that she was trying to hide?" he doesn't always appreciate my dinner-table conversations. :lol2:

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my psych nursing instructor told us that all psych nurses are crazy . . . maybe that's a factor.

they're not crazy, they're "special." ;)

but it does take a special kind of person to do psych.

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Specializes in MDS RNAC, LTC, Psych, LTAC.
my psych nursing instructor told us that all psych nurses are crazy . . . maybe that's a factor.

i think it's the weekends, nights, holidays, etc. that and the fact that we nurses seem to have little sympathy for illness/injuries that are not life-threatening or at least life-altering.

i have worked psych alot and i am pretty sure i am a little crazy . i was divorced in nursing school and have never remarried some of it is i see all kinds of relationships good, bad and ugly and i guess if i cant have a relationship that is good and loving i wont have one at all and some of that is from both working psych with abused women and also working ltc where i have seen loving life long partners taking care of their spouses maybe perhaps having psych experience has helped me avoid bad relationships because i can see when people i have had relationships with have been manipulating me we get that all the time in psych so my bs detector is pretty good... so perhaps that accounts for the psych nurse divorce rate being higher but as a earlier poster said statistics can be skewed if the data set is not big enough but i still wish for a good relationship to come along because love is good in this world to have and give. :heartbeat

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Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
maybe those nurses are more in tuned with self and know what they will and will not accept in life? or maybe being around psychiatrist all day and having to counsel people, they understand that their significant other is crazy???! just a guess... i worked psych as a non-nurse and know that you can spend a lot of time self reflecting when psych is what you do for a living. btw, i am still married. :p

or they might start treating their spouses like a patient. do the answer a question with a question type of thing, explore every feeling or little thing said, talk in a soft monotone voice all the time. lol i know that would start driving me nuts.

me-"hon, you are really starting to tick me off"

hypothetical psych nurse husband- "how does that make you feel? why do you think it evokes such a strong emotion"

me-"let me get the frying pan and demonstrate how that makes me feel"

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Specializes in Long term care, Rehab/Addiction/Recovery.

Absolutely. Firstly, Nursing being a largely female profession you have to adjust the stats since the divorce rate is high in the general pop anyway,so figure a large portion of females are Nurses. Probably Nurses have a higher rate of divorce than teachers, also a largely female profession. (Better hours, home early, summers off). Interestingly I am divorced, my ex is a physician. My sister is a school teacher. Believe me, having the same schedule as ur kids takes alot of stress off ur plate! Don't know about psych nurses specifically, but everyone knows all Nurses are a little off!;)

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