Press Story

Stable and consistent parenting is more important than whether parents are married when predicting whether children will succeed in life, according to new research from the Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr) to be published next week (Mon). The report shows that having a warm and loving relationship with a parent can override the impact of living in a lone-parent family, but this depends on whether that lone parent is able to spend 'quality time' with the child. It says children who spend less quality time with their parents are more likely to commit antisocial behaviour than others.

ippr's report argues that it is not realistic for Government to attempt to substantially lower the rates of divorce, cohabitation or single-parenthood because they are socially and culturally driven trends. It also finds that research claiming to prove a link between benefits systems and family structures, such as the decision to 'live together apart' or not to marry is unconvincing. The report dismisses public policies that focus support on traditional family types, arguing that such approaches divert resources from those most in need and are unnecessarily morally prescriptive. It says financial incentives are unlikely to work: the introduction of the Married Couples Allowance in the 1970s famously coincided with the biggest increases in divorce of the last century.

ippr's analysis finds that marital status matters much less than many other factors in determining whether couples stay together. The report says age also matters: the chances of a couple in their teens and 20s splitting up are twice that of a couple in their 30s.

The report says children who have witnessed domestic violence suffer similar impacts as those who have been physically abused. They are also more likely to show aggressive and antisocial behaviour, suffer from low self esteem and tend to do less well at school. More than one in five women aged between 16 and 59 have been a victim of domestic violence at least once in their lifetimes and 17 percent have been sexually victimised in some way.

Nick Pearce, ippr Director, said:

"Family forms in Britain have returned to pre-twentieth century levels of complexity. We can't reinvent nuclear families or subsidise them at the expense of children growing up in poverty. But we can promote stronger bonds between children and adults, and more stable, consistent parenting. Adult role models are vital for children to learn about the norms of behaviour and values in our society, but in Britain children spend less time with their parents than is the case in culturally similar countries. Children growing up in non-traditional family forms can succeed if warmth, stability and consistent parenting are also present. What goes on within a family is just as important as the structure of the family."

The report says that while divorce in itself may not always be problematic, poorly handled conflict can be detrimental to children's sense of wellbeing. It argues that the child-rearing years tend to be the times of greatest marital discord, with conflict escalating during the time of infancy and early childhood and reaching a peak between early childhood and pre-adolescence. The report say more frequent conflict within a family appears to deter fathers' positive engagement with their children and at times of marital distress fathers may become more withdrawn, especially from daughters, and mothers may become more involved with children. Children from very discordant homes are more likely to fare worse at school, and have problems establishing good relationships with peers, siblings and adults. Childhood mental health problems associated with parental conflict include behavioural problems such as aggression and anti-social behaviour, and emotional problems such as depression and withdrawal.

But the report also says that conflict can be constructive when children are encouraged to learn about negotiation and resolution. For example, research on post-divorce family life has shown that people can learn how to manage processes like divorce as a life event and move on in ways that are enabling rather than constraining of their family relationships.

The report recommends:

Investment in a range of relationship support services for parents and couples, particularly lone parents. This needs to include new skills for professionals as part of workforce development in the NHS and social services, to enable them to identify and respond to relationship difficulties in couples with whom they come into contact.
Couple relationship support training and training on working with men and fathers should be included in social worker, health visitor and perinatal training and development, and a pilot scheme to test supportive interventions.
The development of information and support services for fathers at key transition points, notably in perinatal services and during separation.
Establishing a UK cohort study to explore how relationships within families can best be supported by policy.
The roll-out of community-based perpetrator programmes for fathers with violent behaviour.
The Child Support Agency should take a role in supporting families through divorce and separation. This should be modelled on the Australian Child Support Agency, which takes an active role in facilitating better relations between separating parents.

Notes to editors

The average age of first time mothers has increased from 23.7 in 1971 to 27.1 in 2004; the average age of first marriage has increased from 25 for men and 23 for women in 1971 to 31 and 29 respectively in 2003; the proportion of under-60s cohabiting has risen from 11 percent for men and 13 percent for women in 1986 to 24 percent and 25 percent respectively in 2004; the number of cohabiting men and women aged between 25 and 44 has increased nearly six-fold between 1973 and 2004; the numbers participating in higher education have risen from 621,000 in 1970/71 to 2,436,000 in 2003/4; and 57 percent of British men aged 20 to 24 (and 23 percent of those aged 25-29) were still living with their parents in 2005 compared with 38 percent and 11 percent respectively of women.

Children are much less likely to grow up with both natural parents. In the early 1970s, 92 percent of children lived in a couple family and just seven percent lived in a lone parent family, but by early 2005, this picture had changed. Although two parent families were still the norm – 76 percent of children lived with a couple – lone parenting had become much more common, rising to 24 percent of children, 90 percent of whom lived with their mother. And for some ethnic groups lone parenting has become more common still: around half of children of Black Caribbean background born in 2000 from were living with one parent last year, compared to 13 percent of children from a White British background and five percent from Indian or Bangladeshi backgrounds.

At the same time, as a result of more complex family formation and partnership patterns, stepfamilies are also far more common than before: around 55 percent of all divorcing couples had at least one child under 16 in 2003 and in 2004/05, 10 percent of all families with dependent children in Britain were stepfamilies. Most children live with their mothers following family break up and so most stepfamilies tend to include children from the previous relationship of the woman, with around one in ten stepfamilies including children from the father's previous relationship.

A related shift is that children are less likely to grow up in large families, largely as a result of historically low fertility due in part to the large 'baby gap' between the number of children Britons want and the number they are able to have. Nine percent of households in 1971 consisted of families with three or more children, compared to just four percent of households in 2005. An important exception to this rule is that some ethnic minority groups have much larger families than others.

Proportion of 15 year olds spending time with friends four or more evenings a week:

" 60 percent of boys and 40 percent of girls in Ukraine,
" 59 percent of boys and 48 percent of girls in Scotland,
" 54 percent of boys and 46 percent of girls in Finland,
" 51 percent of boys and 47 percent of girls in Norway,
" 45 percent of boys and 34 percent of girls in England,
" 45 percent of boys and 34 percent of girls in Wales,
" 44 percent of boys and 31 percent of girls in Canada,
" 41 percent of boys and 35 percent of girls in Spain,
" 41 percent of boys and 30 percent of girls in Israel,
" 37 percent of boys and 31 percent of girls in the USA,
" 35 percent of boys and 33 percent of boys in Ireland,
" 34 percent of boys and 29 percent of girls in the Netherlands,
" 31 percent of boys and 21 percent of girls in Sweden,
" 29 percent of boys and 27 percent of girls in Germany,
" 28 percent of boys and 26 percent of girls in Denmark,
" 28 percent of boys and 20 percent of girls in Poland,
" 25 percent of boys and 14 percent of girls in Italy,
" 20 percent of boys and 13 percent of girls in Greece,
" 18 percent of boys and 15 percent of girls in Switzerland,
" 17 percent of boys and 10 percent of girls in France,
" 16 percent of boys and 12 percent of girls in Hungary,
" 14 percent of boys and 8 percent of girls in Belgium,
" 7 percent of boys and 3 percent of girls in Portugal.

The proportion of young people whose parents eat a main meal with them around a table several times a week was:

" 59 percent in Finland,
" 62 percent in the USA,
" 63 percent in New Zealand,
" 64 percent in the UK,
" 69 percent in Greece,
" 71 percent in Austria,
" 72 percent in Canada,
" 74 percent in Hungary,
" 76 percent in Ireland,
" 80 percent in Germany,
" 81 percent in Argentina,
" 82 percent in Japan,
" 82 percent in Spain,
" 83 percent in Denmark,
" 83 percent in Sweden,
" 85 percent in Portugal,
" 87 percent in Belgium,
" 87 percent in Russia,
" 89 percent in France,
" 90 percent in Hong Kong,
" 93 percent in Italy.

The proportion of young people whose parents spend time "just talking" to them several times a week:

" 41 percent in Germany,
" 47 percent in Canada,
" 51 percent in Sweden,
" 51 percent in Australia,
" 51 percent in New Zealand,
" 58 percent in Japan,
" 59 percent in Spain,
" 61 percent in Ireland,
" 62 percent in the UK,
" 63 percent in Norway,
" 63 percent in France,
" 64 percent in the USA,
" 69 percent in Portugal,
" 69 percent in Denmark,
" 78 percent in Finland,
" 86 pre cent in Italy,
" 89 percent in Hungary.