Unmarried parents ‘more likely to split’

If we, the adults, cannot cope with divorce, how can we expect our children to?

If we, the adults, cannot cope with divorce, how can we expect our children to?

Published Dec 4, 2013

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London - Unmarried parents are four times more likely to split up than those who have wed, research revealed.

It also indicated that co-habiting couples with children under 16 are now responsible for the majority of family breakdowns.

On average, 5.3 percent of these relationships ended each year from 2009-12, according to the study.

But among those who had taken their vows, the average rate was only 1.3 percent, said the Marriage Foundation think-tank and university academics.

The high rate of co-habiting parents in family splits comes despite these couples making up only a fifth of those with children.

The figures were gathered from the findings of a £50-million state-sponsored research project, the Understanding Society survey.

Over the last 20 years, it has gathered information on the progress of families and now tracks events in 40 000 homes.

Results were compared with findings from the official Labour Force Survey, which asks questions in around 15 000 households.

Harry Benson, of the Marriage Foundation, said: “This marks a tipping point for society.

“We have an epidemic of family breakdown because so few people realise how badly the odds of success are stacked against unmarried co-habitees.

“If you’re living together as unmarried parents, you’re four times more likely to split up than married parents.

“It is frequently said that low income and poor education are the main reasons behind family breakdown. But, if anything, the average income and level in education has improved since the 1980s while family breakdown has doubled.

“We haven’t been getting poorer or less well-educated but we have become less willing to commit to our families.

“The link between declining numbers of marriages and increasing levels of family breakdown is plain for everyone to see.”

According to calculations by the foundation, which worked with academics from the University of Lincoln, the figures indicate that 116 800 couples with children under 16 separated in 2010.

Of these family breakdowns, 60 400 involved married parents and 56 400 co-habiting couples. The study’s figure are a close match with the Office for National Statistics, which said there were 59 309 divorces involving children under 16 in 2010.

Researchers applied these break-up rates to population data for 2013 and suggested that co-habiting parents may now account for more than half of family breakdowns.

Last month, the Institute for Fiscal Studies said it was wrong to suggest two years ago that marriage had no bearing on whether or not couples break up.

The think-tank admitted that money, education and social factors do not explain family failure. - Daily Mail

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