Childhood Experiences of Separation and Divorce

Reflections from Young Adults

Kay-Flowers, Susan

• Éditeur: Policy Press
• Année: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781447338680
• Édition: 1
• Sujet: Social Sciences
• Sous-sujet: Children's Studies in Sociology

Using innovative, participatory research methods, this book offers new insights into the issues surrounding parental separation or divorce from the unique perspective, and retrospectives, of young adults. As they look back on their childhood, their views provide valuable insights into how children experience and accommodate their parents' separation. Drawing on the qualitative research findings, Kay-Flowers develops a new framework to provide a useful analytical tool for academics and practitioners working with children and families to make sense of young people's experiences and puts forward suggestions for improving support for children in the future.

TWO

What is known about children’s experience of parental separation and divorce?

This chapter starts by describing the different types of families in the United Kingdom (UK) and goes on to explain some of the legislation governing marriage, civil partnerships and divorce. The UK comprises four home nations – England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland – and there are legislative differences between them. Using data collected in each of the home nations the extent of divorce and civil partnership dissolution can be established and the number of children affected ascertained in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Differences in the way the Scottish government collects data means that this information is not available in relation to Scottish children.

Legal processes involved in entering into marriage or civil partnership, and the ending of such relationships, means that the number of people affected can be established with some certainty, unlike couples who choose to live together informally as cohabiting couples. Office for National Statistics (ONS) statistics estimate the number of children who live in cohabiting couple families in the UK but the number affected by separation cannot be determined because such information is not collected.

The second part of the chapter explains the reasons for focusing on children’s ‘voice’ and why this is important. Drawing on research from around the world, it reviews studies that articulate children’s ‘voice’ in relation to their everyday experience of parental separation and divorce and identifies common themes emerging from the findings. The studies are identified and details relating to the age of children, size of sample and geographic location of the study, are provided.

The third part of the chapter describes what children said about their experience of parental separation.

Family types in the UK

The population of the four home nations of the UK is estimated to have been 65,648,054 people in mid-2016, which is the highest it has ever been (ONS, 2017a). Most of the people living in the UK live in England, which has a population of just over 55,200,000; 3,100,000 live in Wales, about 5,400,000 live in Scotland and over 1,800,000 live in Northern Ireland. Growth in the UK population is reflected in an increased number of families living in the UK, from 16.6 million in 1996 to 19.0 million in 2017 (ONS, 2017b).

In 2017 there were 14 million dependent children living in the UK, dependent children are defined as those aged under 16 or aged 16–18 in full-time education (ONS, 2017b). They were most likely to live in married couple families and 64 per cent of children (almost 9 million) lived in such families (see Figure 2.1 below). The term ‘married couple family’ includes both opposite and same-sex couples and those who have married more than once (ONS, 2017b). The number of married couple families has remained relatively stable, growing only 0.3 per cent in the last two decades (ONS, 2017b). The fastest growing family type has been the cohabiting couple family, increasing from 1.5 million families in 1996 to 3.3 million families in 2017, with the proportion of dependent children living in such families more than doubling from 7 per cent in 1996 to 15 per cent in 2017 (ONS, 2017b). Just over 2 million children lived in such families in the UK in 2017 (see Figure 2.1 below) (ONS, 2017c). The term ‘cohabiting couple family’ includes both opposite and same-sex couples, less than 1 per cent of children were found to live in civil partner couple families (ONS, 2017b).

The number of lone parent families has also increased over the last two decades to 2.8 million in 2017, accounting for 21 per cent of dependent children, and are usually led by females (see Figure 2.1 below) (ONS, 2017b).

Marriage, civil partnership and divorce in the UK

Since marriage and civil partnerships are governed by legislation, it is possible to establish the number of people marrying, forming civil partnerships, divorcing and dissolving civil partnerships in the UK. The Civil Partnership Act 2004 came into force across the UK in December 2005, enabling same-sex couples to have their relationship legally recognised and providing access to many of the rights commonly associated with marriage. At the time of writing the UK government proposes to legislate to allow all couples in England and Wales, regardless of gender, to have a Civil partnership. This is in response to a Supreme Court ruling widely reported on 2 October 2018. There are some differences in the law relating to same-sex marriage which will be explained in the following sections on each of the home nations.

Figure 2.1: The type of families in which children live: UK

Notes: * includes same sex and opposite sex relationships. Number of children = 14.0 million.

Source: Statistics taken from ONS (2017b)

Divorce statistics show those married couples who have separated and obtained a decree absolute, representing the final legal stage in the dissolution of a marriage; a similar process is undertaken in relation to the dissolution of a civil partnership. The next part of the chapter outlines the incidence of divorce and civil partnership dissolution in each of the home nations and where possible the number of children affected. The statistics do not show those married couples or civil partners who have separated but not divorced or applied for dissolution of their partnership, meaning only a partial picture of children’s experience of parental separation is available.

Parental separation and divorce in the UK

England and Wales

Divorce in England and Wales is governed by four main pieces of legislation: the Divorce Reform Act 1969, the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984, the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 and the Children and Families Act 2014. Marriage between same-sex couples was legalised in England and Wales in 2013 and the first same-sex marriages took place in March 2014.

Since the introduction of the Divorce Reform Act 1969 there has been an increase in the percentage of marriages ending in divorce in England and Wales. Office for National Statistics (ONS, 2017d) figures show 22 per cent of marriages entered into in 1970 ended by the fifteenth wedding anniversary, whereas 33 per cent of marriages entered into in 1995 ended by this time, divorce being most likely to occur within the first 10 years of marriage. More recent figures show an overall decrease in the incidence of divorce among those marrying since 2000 (ONS, 2017d). Introduction of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013, means that divorce among same-sex couples is now possible, 112 divorces of same-sex couples were recorded in 2016, over three-quarters (78 per cent) were among female couples (ONS, 2017d).

Legislative changes brought about by the Children and Families Act 2014 means that married couples seeking a divorce are no longer required to disclose details about their children and so statistics relating to the number of children affected by divorce have not been collected since 2015 (ONS, 2017d). To assess the number of children in England and Wales affected by divorce, reference needs to be made to earlier statistics which were last collected in 2013 (ONS, 2015). Information relating to the number of couples with children divorcing, the number of children aged under 16 and those aged 16 and over experiencing their parents’ divorce between 2009 and 2013 can be found in Table 2.1 (ONS, 2015). The average number of children per couple and their age is also shown. The highest recorded number of couples divorcing and the highest number of children aged under 16 affected by divorce was recorded in 1993, this data is included in Table 2.1 for the purposes of comparison. In that year 94,915 couples divorced, affecting 175,961 children under 16 and 20,573 children aged 16 and over, the average number of children per couple was 1.85 and 0.22 respectively.

Since 2010, when almost 60,000 couples with children divorced, affecting around 104,000 children under the age of 16 and almost 19,000 aged 16 or over, the number of couples divorcing and the number of children affected has decreased year on year. The table shows that in 2013, 55,323 couples with children divorced and 94,864 children under 16 as well as 14,841 children aged 16 or over experienced their parents’ divorce; this was the lowest number of couples divorcing and the lowest number of children affected during this five-year period. The average number of children per couple has also decreased during this time from 1.76 children aged under 16 in 2010 to 1.71 in 2013 and 0.32 children aged over 16 in 2010 to 0.27 in 2013.

Overall, in the five years leading up to and including 2013, 285,685 couples with children divorced in England and Wales, just under half a million (499,353) children under the age of 16 were affected alongside 86,649) children aged 16 and over, meaning a total of 586,002 children were affected by their parents’ divorce.

Northern Ireland

Statistics produced by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) show the number of married couples divorcing and the number of children affected by divorce each year in Northern Ireland. They show a steady increase in the number of couples seeking divorce in the 1980s and 1990s with the number peaking at the onset of the ‘Great Recession’ in 2007 when 2,913 couples divorced (NISRA, 2015). Since then the number has reduced, as can be seen in Table 2.2, which shows the number of divorces and number of children/stepchildren aged under 16, aged 16–18 and aged over 18, affected by divorce in Northern Ireland from 2010 to 2015 (NISRA, 2011; 2012; 2013; 2014; 2015; 2016).

NISRA recorded children’s ages according to the categories used by the Registrar General as ‘under 18’ or ‘aged 18 and over’. Since 2014 data has been recorded according to whether a child is aged ‘under 16’, ‘16–18’ or ‘18 and over’ these changes are reflected in Table 2.2.

Over the last six years the number of divorces in Northern Ireland has varied from a high of 2,600 in 2010 to a low of 2,343 in 2011, figures have remained relatively stable with an average of 2,434 divorces each year. The number of children/stepchildren aged under 18 experiencing their parents’ divorce varied from a high of 2,709 in 2010 to a low of 2,200 in 2015, an average of 1,768 children have been affected each year. More recent figures show the number of children and stepchildren aged 16–18 years at the time of parental divorce; there were 700 children in this age category in 2014 and 400 in 2015.

The largest number of children/stepchildren aged 18 and over experiencing their parents’ divorce was recorded in 2015 when 2,000 young adults experienced this event. The lowest number of young adults experiencing parental separation (1,600) was recorded in 2011. Overall an average of 1,768 children aged 18 and over experienced their parents’ separation each year.

NISRA statistics show that in the six-year period up to and including 2015, just under 15,000 (14,849) children and stepchildren aged under 18 experienced their parents’ divorce alongside 10,605 children and stepchildren aged 18 and over, meaning a total of 25,454 children were affected by their parents’ divorce. This number does not include children of same-sex couples because same-sex marriage is not recognised in Northern Ireland.

There have been 1,026 civil partnerships in Northern Ireland since the Civil Partnership Act 2004 came into force in 2005 (NISRA, 2012). The first partnership dissolutions were registered in 2010 when there were three (NISRA, 2011); since then there has been a small increase each year with 11 recorded in 2014, female couples have been more likely to seek dissolution of a civil partnership (NISRA, 2016).

Scotland

Scottish Government statistics show the number of divorces and civil partnership dissolutions taking place in Scotland, but do not record the number of children affected (Scottish Government, 2017). The number of divorces and civil partnership dissolutions in Scotland in the five-year period from 2011 to 2016 can be seen in Table 2.3 which shows a year on year reduction from 9,903 in 2011–2012 to 8,875 in 2015–2016 and is a significant reduction since 1985, when 13,300 divorces took place (Scottish Government, 2017).

Same-sex marriage was legalised in Scotland by the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act 2014, and the first ceremonies took place in December of that year. Scottish legislation allows couples in civil partnerships to change their relationship into a marriage (Scottish Government, 2017).

Table 2.3: Number of divorces and civil partnership dissolutions in Scotland (2011–2016)

Year	Number of divorces and civil partnership dissolutions
2015–16	8875
2014–15	9030
2013–14	9626
2012–13	9694
2011–12	9903

Source: Scottish Government, 2017

Cohabitation figures

Over the last two decades there has been an increasing trend for couples to cohabit rather than marry, or to cohabit before marriage in the UK and over 2 million children are estimated to live in cohabiting couple families, accounting for 15 per cent of dependent children (see Table 2.1) (ONS, 2017b). The informal nature of cohabitation presents difficulty in obtaining accurate figures about the number of children living in this type of family and the extent of relationship breakdown. The number of children affected by the separation of cohabiting parents cannot be determined because such information is not collected by the Office for National Statistics (ONS, 2017b). Some insight can be gleaned from analysis of census data relating to England and Wales only and is reported in the following section.

England and Wales

Collected every 10 years from every household, census data relating to England and Wales only showed, in 2011, 1.1 million (9 per cent) dependent children lived in a stepfamily, of these 689,000 children lived in married couple stepfamilies and 418,000 lived in cohabiting couple stepfamilies. This indicates that, of the 1.7 million children living in cohabiting couple families, nearly a quarter (24 per cent) lived in stepfamilies (ONS, 2017b). However, caution needs to be exercised when using these figures because they may include natural children of the couple as well as children from either or both partners’ previous relationships.

Further insight can be gained from census data relating to dependent children with a parental second address, that is, children who share their time between two different parental addresses (ONS, 2014). This question was asked for the first time in the 2011 census and while not limited to children whose parents cohabit, it showed 386,000 (3.2 per cent) of dependent children in England and Wales had a second parental address. They were most likely to have a second address in the same local authority as their usual residence but 4 per cent had a second address outside the UK, indicating contact with one parent involved navigating geographical distance (ONS, 2014).

The picture relating to the number of children affected by parental separation among cohabiting couple families in England and Wales remains incomplete and there are clear gaps in our knowledge in relation to Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Number of children affected by divorce across the UK

From available statistics it is known that 628,786 children in three of the four home nations experienced their parents’ divorce during the period 2009 to 2015. It is unknown how many Scottish children experience their parents’ divorce.

Previous estimates have suggested that one in three children in the UK will experience their parents’ separation or divorce before the age of 16, while this cannot be established with certainty, it provides an indication of the extent of the experience among children (Layard and Dunn, 2009; Fortin et al, 2012).

The chapter now turns attention to children’s experience of parental separation and the importance of their ‘voice’ in understanding what they have to say about the experience.

Why the focus on children’s ‘voice’?

Children’s experience of parental separation has been subject to intense scrutiny, extensive research has been conducted on the effects of parental separation, outcomes for children who have experienced separation in childhood, the experience of living in stepfamilies and their involvement in decision-making about post-separation arrangements. Their views on the experience, however, have been less well documented and the ‘voice’ of young adults looking back on their childhood experience of parental separation has been largely absent from the body of research. This study sought to address the gap by focusing on how children experienced their parents’ separation in their everyday lives, what it meant to them, the changes it brought and how they viewed the experience as they looked back as young adults, thereby giving ‘voice’ to their childhood experiences of parental separation.

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Table des matières

• Cover
• Title page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Figures and tables
• Acknowledgements
• one: Introduction
• two: What is known about children’s experience of parental separation and divorce?
• three: The research study
• four: Constructing a new framework for understanding children’s accommodation of parental separation
• five: Setting the context for the framework: emotions
• six: Reactions
• seven: Support
• eight: Communication
• nine: Conflict
• ten: Future directions
• References
• Appendices