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UNew work shows that unhappy parents do not have to stay together "in the best interests of children" because divorce is less damaging if it takes place earlier in childhood.
The first major study to evaluate the emotional impact of the split in children revealed that the greatest risk of repercussions such as bad behavior and disobedience occur at the end of the year. childhood and early adolescence.
The badysis of 6,000 children born in the United Kingdom at the end of the century revealed that those whose parents separate between 7 and 14 years are much more likely – 16% – to suffer from emotional and behavioral problems than those whose parents stay together.
However, there was no difference between children aged three to seven whose parents had divorced and those of the same age who did not.
Scientists behind this new study, scientists at University College London, believe that divorce is more damaging to teens than to the younger ones because they are more socially sensitive and better able to grasp the dynamics of negative relationships.
The team reviewed reports on children's mental health at ages three, five, seven, eleven, and fourteen, including emotional issues such as feelings of bad mood and anxiety, and behavioral issues such as disobedience. .
They compared information on children who experienced a family split with those who did not have a fifth of the children in the study who saw their parents separate between 3 and 14 years of age.
Among older children, an increase in emotional problems was observed in boys and girls, but more severe behavioral problems were observed only among boys.
The study also shows that after a separation from the family, children from more privileged backgrounds were just as likely to have mental health problems as their less advantaged peers.
Professor Emla Fitzsimons, co-author of the study, said, "Adolescent mental health is a major concern at the national level and it is urgent to understand the causes.
She added that, in addition to increased sensitivity to relationship dynamics, older children were more likely to be affected by family breakdown than younger children because of the disruption of schooling and schooling. friendships often bigger.
Published in Social Science and Medicine, the study also looked at the impact of disruption on the mental health and financial resources of mothers.
In the United Kingdom, women accounted for 90% of lone parents and most of the children in the study lived with their mother after a split.
Mothers reported on average more mental health problems than those who are still with their partner if they separated when their children were older.
It is thought that this is due to the fact that the financial impact of the divorce was greater later in the marriage.
According to the Office for National Statistics, there were 101,669 divorces of heterobadual couples in 2017, down 4.9% from 2016 but similar to 2015.
In the United Kingdom, just over four out of 10 marriages end in divorce.
Last year, David Gauke, Secretary of Justice, announced his intention to allow divorces without fail.
In a simplified system, spouses would lose the opportunity to block a divorce because their spouses or wives would no longer have to prove adultery, unreasonable behavior or desertion in a disputed divorce.
It followed a high-profile ruling by the Supreme Court that ordered a woman to remain in her "loveless" marriage after her husband, 40, denied having acted unreasonably.
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