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What do couple relationships have to do with children's academic achievement? A policy briefing from the Relationships Alliance. (Click here to download the PDF file)
Factors associated with children's academic achievement
While family income and level of parental education have consistently been shown to be associated with children's language development and reading ability (Dollaghan, 1999) (Hart, 1995) (Hoff, 2003) (Arriaga, 1998) (Christian, 1998), other factors have also been identified as playing a role in these aspects of child development, including parental vocabulary, word exposure and joint reading.

While these have received relatively widespread attention, this briefing focuses on two drivers of children's academic achievement - parental relationship quality and quality of parenting - which are arguably under-researched and under-acknowledged. As Harold et al. observe, "few studies have considered the role of the inter-parental relationship as a source of influence on children's academic attainment and fewer still have considered the joint interplay between family problems (inter-parental and parent-child conflict), child behaviour problems and academic well being" (Harold et al., 2007).

Regarding the quality of the relationship between a child's parents and that child's scholastic achievement, research finds:

links between relationship conflict, attention difficulties and school problems (Davies, 2008)

marital conflict to be linked with children's sleep problems which are themselves associated with children's behavioural, emotional, and academic difficulties, including maths, language, verbal and nonverbal achievement (El-Sheikh, 2007a; Mannering, Harold et al., 2011)

exposure to ongoing, acrimonious exchanges to be linked to signs of emotional and behavioural distress in children between the ages of 6 and 17 years (Harold, 2001)

exposure to ongoing, acrimonious discord to be associated with deficits in academic attainment (as well as increased anxiety, depression, aggression, hostility, anti-social behaviour and criminality) (Harold, 2007; Harold et al., 2013)

parental separation (i.e. divorce and post-cohabitation separation) to be associated with lower levels of academic attainment (among a host of negative outcomes), leading the authors of this meta-analysis to conclude that "the argument that parental divorce presents few problems for children's long-term development is simply inconsistent with the literature on this topic" (Amato, 1991; Harold and Murch 2005).

Regarding particular aspects of parenting behaviour and children's academic achievement, research shows:

parental (particularly maternal) sensitivity, i.e. encouragement, warmth and emotional support, to predict:

1. language ability at 15 to 36 months (NICHD, 1999)

2. development in later language and reading beyond socio-demographic characteristics of individual families (Wade, 2013)

3. teacher-reported readiness skills, social skills, communication skills, and receptive communication (Connell, 2002).

U nderstanding the link between parenting style and the quality of parental relationships
Having identified that certain kinds of parenting behaviours are linked with children's achievement and development, it can be tempting - and to a large extent social policy in the UK in recent years bears this assertion out - to focus exclusively on such behaviour at the level of the individual parent - with little, or no, regard for the context within which individual parents bring up their children.

Such a focus has led to the widespread use of parenting programmes which do not, on the whole, pay attention to the relationship between the parents concerned (TCCR, 2011).

And yet, with research showing that families account for 40% of the overall variance between children in their academic progress during secondary schooling (compared with the wider shared environments of primary school (9%), secondary school (10%), neighbourhood (2%), LEA (1%) and child characteristics (38%)) (Rasbash, 2010) (Leckie, 2010), it is legitimate, and somewhat overdue, to look more closely at the role which family (and particularly parental) relationships play in children's readiness for learning and academic achievement.

And while the Rasbash study mentioned above (which followed a cohort of half a million school children through secondary schooling) was not able to identify how much of this family impact related to genetic factors or parenting ones, other sources of research strongly suggest that parenting and parental relationships play a substantial role.

For, as Professors Carolyn and Philip Cowan observe: "In families with authoritative parents [i.e. those in which parents are warm and responsive, structure tasks, and set reasonable limits for their children's behavior, and at the same time grant the children age-appropriate autonomy (Baumrind (1980)], young children and adolescents show more advanced academic achievement, greater competence in relationships with peers, and fewer problem behaviors than peers whose parents have authoritarian or permissive parenting styles ((Conger, 1994; Cowan, 1998; Parke, 1998; Steinberg, 2001 referenced in Cowan, 2005))."
Policy implications
"Parents who are authoritarian, punitive, and harsh (structured and limit-setting without warmth and responsiveness) or permissive (warm but laissez-faire)", these authors continue, "tend to have offspring who are less academically and socially competent and more likely to have behavior problems - as described by teachers, parents, peers, or the children and adolescents themselves in different studies" (Cowan, 2005).

While research implicates both the quality of the parental relationship and parenting behaviour as factors in children's academic achievement, it is the latter which has enjoyed more sway in influencing UK family policy in recent years.

Relatively little acknowledged in policy spheres here is the link between parenting style and the quality of the relationship between parents. And yet almost every study examining associations between parental relationships and parenting has found that the quality of the relationship between parent and child to be linked to the quality of the relationship between the parents (Lindahl, 1997).

Moreover, "when parents report greater intimacy and better communication in their marriage, they tend to be more attuned to and affectionate toward their children. The most consistent findings indicate that happily married parents are more sensitive, responsive, warm and affectionate toward their children" (Grych, 2002). Crucially, therefore, research tells us that "when the parents' relationship as a couple is troubled, one parent or both are less likely to have a more effective, authoritative parenting style with their children" (Cowan, 2005).

So, while it is undoubtedly heartening that the Department for Education has provided funding to test the Cowans' approach in the UK (i.e. the 'Parents as Partners' programme delivered by Family Action and TCCR), there needs to be a fundamental shift in understanding such that the link between what goes on in families (and particularly between parents) and what goes on in schools is more widely acknowledged and appreciated.
References
For while school standards, governance, infrastructure and curricula all play a major role in providing the environment for children to learn and achieve, we must do more to address other key determinants of children's academic success or failure. As the leading academics on this subject observe: "Enhancing the couple's ability to resolve disagreements and solve problems effectively in their relationship as partners can produce substantial benefits in terms of enhanced marital interactions, more effective parenting strategies, and ultimately the children's academic achievement and relationships with peers in the early elementary school grades" (Cowan, 2005).

Amato, P. R., Keith, B. (1991) Parental Divorce and Adult Well-Being: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Marriage and Family. Vol. 53, No. 1, pp. 43-58

Arriaga, R. I., Fenson, L., Cronan, T., & Pethick, S. J. (1998). Scores on the MacArthur communicative development inventory of children from lowand middle-income families. Applied Psycholinguistics, 19, 209-223.

Baumrind, D. (1980). New directions in socialization research. American Psychologist,, 35(7), 639 - 652.

Christian, K., Morrison, F., & Bryant, F. (1998). Predicting kindergarten academic skills: Interactions among child care, maternal education, and family literacy environments. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 13, 501-521.

Conger, R.D., Ge, X., Elder, G.H. & Lorenz, F.O. (1994). Economic stress, coercive family process, and developmental problems of adolescents. Special Issue: Children and Poverty. Child Development, 65(2), 541 - 561.

Connell, C. M., & Prinz, R. J. (2002). The impact of childcare and parent-child interactions on school readiness and social skills development for low-income African American children. Journal of School Psychology, 40, 177-93.

Cowan, P.A., Powell, D. & Cowan, C.P. (1998). Parenting interventions: a family systems perspective. In W. Damon (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology (Fifth ed., Vol. 4). New York: John Wiley.

Cowan, C., P. & Cowan, P. (2005) Two central roles for couple relationships: breaking negative intergenerational patterns and enhancing children's adaptation Sexual and Relationship Therapy Vol 20, No. 3

Davies, P. T., Woitach, M. J., Winter, M. A., & Cummings, E. M. (2008). Children's insecure representations of the Interparental relationship and their school adjustment: The mediating role of attention difficulties. Child Development, 79, 1570-1582.

Dollaghan, C. A., Campbell, T. F., Paradise, J. L., Feldman, H. M., Janosky, J. E., Pitcairn, D. N., et al. (1999). Maternal education and measures of early speech and language. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 42, 1432-1443.

El-Sheikh, M., Buckhalt, J. A., Keller, P., Cummings, E. M., & Acebo, C. (2007a). Child emotional insecurity and academic achievement: The role of sleep disruptions. Journal of Family Psychology, 2, 29-38.

Grych, J. H. (2002) Marital Relationships and Parenting in Handbook of Parenting, Volume 4, Social Conditions and Applied Parenting. Ed. Bornstein. M. H. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Harold, G. T., Pryor, J., & Reynolds, J. (2001). Not in front of the children? How conflict between parents affects children. One-Plus-One Marriage and Partnership Research: London.

Harold, G. T., Murch, M. (2005) Inter-parental conflict and children's adaptation to separation and divorce: theory, research and implications for family law, practice and policy. Child and Family Law Quarterly, 17, 2.

Harold, G. T., Aitken, J. J. and Shelton, K. H. (2007), Inter-parental conflict and children's academic attainment: a longitudinal analysis. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 48

Harold, G., Leve, L., Elam, K., Thapar, A., Neiderhiser, J., Ntsuaki, M., Shaw, D., Reiss, D. (2013) The Nature of Nurture: Disentangling Passive Genotype-Environment Correlation From Family Relationship Influences on Children's Externalizing Problems. Journal of Family Psychology, 27, 1, pp.12-21

Hart, B., & Risley, T. R. (1995). Meaningful differences in the everyday experience of young American children. Baltimore:Brookes Publishing Company, Inc.

Hoff, E. (2003). The specificity of environmental influence: Socioeconomic status affects early vocabulary development via maternal speech. Child Development, 74, 1368-1378.

Leckie G.B., Pillinger R.J., Jenkins J. and Rasbash J. (2010) Children's educational progress: family, school and area effects. Significance, 7, 67-70.

Lindahl, K.M., Clements, M. & Markman, H. (1997). Predicting marital and parent functioning in dyads and triads: A longitudinal investigation of marital processes. Journal of Family Psychology, 11(2), 139 - 151.

Mannering A., Leve, L., Shaw, D., Neiderhiser, J., Harold, G., Shelton, K., Conger, R., Scaramella, L., Reiss, D. (2011) Longitudinal Associations Between Marital Instability and Child Sleep Problems Across Infancy and Toddlerhood in Adoptive Families. Child Development, 82, 4, pp.1252-1266

National Institute of Child and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network (NICHD-ECCRN). (1999). Chronicity of maternal depressive symptoms, maternal sensitivity and child functioning at 36 months. Developmental Psychology, 35, 1297-1310.

Parke, R.D. & Buriel, R. (1998). Socialization in the family: Ethnic and ecological perspectives. In N. Eisenberg (Ed.), Social, emotional, and personality development (Fifth ed., Vol. 3) (pp. 463 - 552). New York: John Wiley.

Rasbash J., Leckie G., Pillinger R. and Jenkins J. (2010) Children's educational progress: partitioning family, school and area effects. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A (Statistics in Society), 173, 657-682

Steinberg, L. (2001). We know some things: Parent-adolescent relationships in retrospect and prospect. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 11(1), 1 - 19.

TCCR (2011). Parenting work which focuses on the parental couple relationship. A policy briefing paper from TCCR
The Relationships Alliance, a corsortium comprising Relate, Marriage Care, One Plus One and the Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationships, exists to ensure that good quality personal and social relationships are more widely acknowledged as central to our health and wellbeing.
Wade, M., Prime, H., Browne, D., Jenkins, J. (2013) A Multilevel Approach to the Examination of Cognitive Skills in School Readiness. University of Toronto (In press)

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tavistock centre for couple relationships

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What do couple relationships have to do with children's academic achievement? A policy briefing from the Relationships Alliance.

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Chinese adults’ perceptions about the influence of their parents’ divorce on their childhood academic performance

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Chinese adults' perceptions about the influence of their parents' divorce on their childhood academic performance

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DiVA portal is a finding tool for research publications and student theses written at the following 47 universities and research institutions.

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Why divorce can be so difficult for teenage children

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"Peter, just to say, I'm thinking of you and I love you very much. It would be great to talk to you, Dad."

"Fuck off."

The text messages between Chris Huhne and his then 18-year-old son, Peter, are painful for any father or son to read.

Over a period of 11 months to May 2011, they show a dad attempting to maintain a connection with his son as he goes through a messy and very public divorce. They also show a son who is absolutely furious with his father - for his "affairs", for reducing their relationship "to lies and pleasantries", for being "a pathetic loser and a joke".

When I was 16 and my parents separated, I vowed that I would never forget what it was like to be a teenager in that painful situation, but reading Peter's texts, 20 years on, I realised I had.

None of us can judge whether Peter's anger is justifiable or not, but it is shocking. And it sheds light on an overlooked part of divorce: how deeply it can affect adult, or late-teenage, children.

I know so many people whose parents did something similar to mine: struggled on in a difficult marriage "for the sake of the children", finally splitting up when the kids went to university or were considered old enough to handle it. This can be a selfless parental act, and is often what the children want: although my parents were visibly unhappy in my teenage years I was desperate for them to stay together.

The upside is that it can be better to maintain the familiar family structure, says Christine Northam, a relationships counsellor for Relate; the downside is that children may develop in "a sterile and not very loving" environment.

Unfortunately, parents who stay together for the children "don't take into account the model they are presenting to their children", thinks Northam, and these loveless examples can hamper children in their adult relationships. Parents staying together for the children may have another person in their lives and children learn to keep secrets, or protect mum or dad from the infidelity. Parents "are modelling something that perhaps is not very good for the kids", says Northam.

My parents divorced in the pre-mobile phone era, although I don't think I would have sent my dad messages like Peter's. But I was angry with my father for several years, blamed him for the family breakdown, and sought to support my mum. As a teenager, I was deeply critical of my dad and what I regarded as his flaws. I think my feelings were complicated by my struggle to emerge as a man in my own right: somehow, my dad's desires and relationships were embarrassing and eclipsed my own and, I felt, inhibited me from expressing desire or forming romances of my own.

"It's loss, it's grief, it's bereavement," says Northam of the anger felt by late teens whose parents divorce. "Kids of 18, 19 are quite judgmental; it's all very black and white. They've lost what they had - they've lost mum and dad together. People just don't understand that when they think: 'I'll have an affair and leave.' Kids love stability and the family they grew up with, and that is the model we buy into as a society."

It is easy for parents to assume their late-teenage children are more grownup than they are, says Angharad Rudkin, a clinical psychologist and chartered member of the British Psychological Society who works with adolescents struggling to come to terms with family breakdown. If they are 17 or 18, we may overestimate teenage maturity because they no longer have irrational strops. In fact, research shows that the brain continues to develop until the age of 25 or 26. "Assuming an older teenager will be able to understand why we've split up, and is sensible and fair, is still asking an awful lot," says Rudkin. "Older teenagers can look back and feel like they were living a lie - that this family life they had grown up with and perhaps never questioned was something their parents were just waiting to break up when they went away to university."

Splitting up when children are young adults may spare everyone awkward enforced access; the weekends with dad or the new life divided between two homes. But it creates a new difficulty: how can a parent who is shunned by a teenage child maintain contact? If they back off to give teenagers space to rage, that can be interpreted as uncaring. After my parents split, I remember feeling that the onus was on my dad to maintain contact with me; luckily for both of us, he did.

When you keep reassuring your teen that you love them, only to be faced by insults or silence, it must be hard not to lash out, or at least tell them it is tough for you too, and they are old enough to deal with it. It is absolutely essential, Rudkin and Northam agree, that divorcing parents of late teens remember to be the grownups. "You will have to swallow your pride and take the more grownup stance - they are still going to be furious little kids under it all," she says. "It's the adult's responsibility to go out of their way to make contact with the teenager, and not expect a gracious response."

Grownup children may become one parent's confidante or "best friend" and children then feel responsible for their parent's happiness (as they often take on an unnecessary responsibility for the disintegration of their parents' marriage). "The parents need to stay in the role of parents," says Northam. "Fathers need to remember that however grownup your child may look, you are still the father, and you need to be the parent who makes the effort to see your children - it's not the kids' responsibility. It sounds a bit banal, but one of the obvious things [for a departing father to do] is to say sorry."

I have no idea whether Chris Huhne and Peter, who is 20 and at university, have repaired their relationship since those awful text exchanges. I hope they have. And if they haven't, I hope that Chris is still trying, and Peter feels less fury.

Twenty years on from my parents' divorce, the fact that I find it easier to empathise with Chris than with Peter's teenage anger is one sign that my dad and I managed to repair our relationship. My own teenage rage seems a world away. I'm very grateful my dad never stopped trying with me, and I admire him for it now, even though I am not sure that a child ever forgets the pain their parents cause, no matter how grownup they are.

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Why divorce can be so difficult for teenage children

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"Peter, just to say, I'm thinking of you and I love you very much. It would be great to talk to you, Dad." "Fuck off." The text messages between Chris Huhne and his then 18-year-old son, Peter, are painful for any father or son to read.

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How divorcing parents delude themselves about the effect on children: Only a fifth of youngsters say they're happy after split

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Netmums survey reveals parents deluding themselves about divorce

Three quarters thought children 'coped well', only fifth of youngsters agreed

One in 20 from broken homes turned to alcohol, nine per cent self-harmed

One in six considered suicide while two had actually tried to kill themselves

Divorced parents are often in denial about how badly the break-up has damaged their children, a survey has found.

More than three quarters believed their children had 'coped well' - even though just 18 per cent of youngsters said they were happy with the situation.

Many parents fail to notice that their children are turning to drink and drugs, or even considering suicide, the poll found. Some were insensitive enough to break the news of the divorce to their children by text.

One in five of the children polled felt there was no point confiding in either their mother or father because they were 'too wrapped up in themselves'.

The survey, by parenting website Netmums, polled about 1,000 divorced parents and 100 children aged eight to 18 from broken homes.

Although it featured only a relatively small pool of youngsters, a stark picture emerged of the struggles that many of them face when coping with their parents' break-up.

One in 20 had turned to alcohol and one in nine had deliberately wounded themselves. A further 6 per cent had considered suicide, while two of those polled had tried to kill themselves.

Almost a third described themselves as devastated by divorce, while one in 12 thought that it meant their mothers and fathers 'didn't love them' and had 'let them down'.

But despite the damage wrought by their parents splitting, few children felt able to speak openly and honestly about their emotions.

Nearly 40 per cent said they hid their feelings from their parents because they did not want to upset them.

Many children felt forced to look after their mothers and fathers as the relationship broke down, and 35 per cent claimed that one parent had tried to turn them against the other.

To make things worse, parents often vastly underestimated the impact of their behaviour on their sons and daughters, the survey found. Only 8 per cent admitted trying to turn their children against their partner.

And just 10 per cent said their children had seen them fighting - even though 31 per cent of youngsters told of witnessing rows.

One in ten knew their children were hiding their true feelings about the divorce but fewer than one per cent were aware of them drinking, self harming or taking drugs to cope.

Meanwhile, just 5 per cent guessed their children blamed themselves for the split - even though 13 per cent of youngsters admitted feeling this way.

One in ten parents thought their offspring were actually 'relieved' they had left their partner.

The survey found the most common way to break the news about the divorce was for mothers to tell their children face-to-face.

But 13 per cent of youngsters had heard the revelation during a row and one per cent had been told about it by text.

Once the parents had decided to break up, two in five of those polled said they left that day, with 18 per cent leaving the family home within a week.

In many cases, they never returned. Almost a quarter of youngsters said that they had not seen their father since the split.

Both the parents and children polled wanted better support during the separation, such as counselling and the opportunity to talk to someone outside the family.

The findings have been released ahead of January 6, dubbed D-Day, as the day that many couples, struggling after a stressful family Christmas, finally file for divorce.

Netmums founder Siobhan Freegard called for parents to talk more to their children about their feelings.

'Divorce may be a little word but it has a huge effect,' she said. 'It's estimated that one in three children see their parents separate before the age of 16.

'While experts acknowledge it is better to come from a broken family than live in one, this research shows not enough is being done to support youngsters through the break-up process.

'While divorce may be the best thing for many families, we have to ensure children are helped to understand the split isn't their fault and that they are still loved.'

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How divorcing parents delude themselves about the effect on children

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Netmums survey reveals parents deluding themselves about divorce Three quarters thought children 'coped well', only fifth of youngsters agreed One in 20 from broken homes turned to alcohol, nine per cent self-harmed One in six considered suicide while two had actually tried to kill themselves Divorced parents are often in denial about how badly the break-up has damaged their children, a survey has found.

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There were 111,169 divorces in 2014, a decrease of 3.1% compared with 2013 and a decline of 27% from a recent peak in 2003.

The number of divorces in 2014 was highest among men aged 45 to 49 and women aged 40 to 44.

In 2014, there were 9.3 men divorcing per thousand married males, a decrease of 5.1% compared with 2013 and a fall of 30.6% from a recent peak in the divorce rate in 2004.

In 2014, there were 9.3 women divorcing per thousand married females, a decrease of 5.1% compared with 2013 and a drop of 29.5% compared with 2004.
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2. Statistician's quote

"Compared with 2004, divorce rates in 2014 were lower for all age groups except women aged 55 and over. Likely factors include increased cohabiting and increasing age at first marriage. Previous research indicates a higher risk of divorce among those marrying at younger ages, whilst cohabitation may be reducing the number of weaker relationships progressing to marriage."

Nicola Haines, Vital Statistics Outputs Branch, Office for National Statistics.

Follow Vital Statistics Outputs Branch on Twitter @StatsLiz
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3. Things you need to know about this release

Divorce statistics are derived from information recorded by Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunal Service during the divorce process.

Figures represent both divorces and annulments that took place in England and Wales; annulments are where the marriage was not legally valid in the first place.

Divorce statistics do not include married couples who separate, but do not divorce.

Divorces where the marriage took place abroad are included provided the marriage was legally recognised in the UK and 1 of the parties had a permanent home in England and Wales.

Marriages of same sex couples first took place on 29 March 2014, there were no divorces recorded between same sex couples in 2014. Figures will be included in this annual release when divorces are recorded between same sex couples.
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4. Divorces continue to decline in 2014

In 2014, the number of divorces in England and Wales decreased by 3.1% to 111,169 compared with 114,720 in 2013.

Figure 1: Number of marriages and divorces, 1934 to 2014

England and Wales

Source: Office for National Statistics

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The fall in divorces between 2003 and 2009 is consistent with a decline in the number of marriages over the same period; the decrease in marriages may be due to the increasing number of couples choosing to cohabit rather than enter into marriage. Following a period of relative stability in the number of divorces between 2009 and 2012, divorces continued to decline in 2013 and 2014.

In 2014, the number of divorces per 1,000 married men and women aged 16 and over (divorce rates), also decreased for both men and women compared with 2013 (Figure 2). Divorce rates take account of changes in the size of the married adult population which affects the number of divorces (information about how divorce rates are calculated is available in the Quality and methodology section, point 9).

Figure 2: Divorce rates for men and women, 1950 to 2014

England and Wales

Source: Office for National Statistics

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Changes in behaviour and attitudes to divorce are considered to be an important factor behind the increase in divorce rates between the 1960s and the early 1990s. Also, the Divorce Reform Act 1969 came into effect in England and Wales on 1 January 1971, making it easier for couples to divorce upon separation - this caused a large increase in divorce rates in 1972.

Changes in attitudes to cohabitation as an alternative to marriage or prior to marriage, particularly at younger ages, are likely to have been a factor affecting the decrease in divorce rates since 2003; levels of cohabitation increased over this period while the married population declined. Age at marriage is also considered to be closely linked to the risk of divorce with those marrying in their teens and early twenties being at greater risk of divorce; our marriage statistics show that the average age at marriage has increased steadily since 1970 for both men and women.
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5. At what age are people getting divorced?

In 2014, more women than men divorced below the age of 45; at older ages more men than women divorced (Figure 3). This pattern reflects the fact that on average men marry women who are younger than themselves. In 2014, the number of divorces was highest among men aged 45 to 49 and women aged 40 to 44. This represents a change for men, since between 2005 and 2013, divorces were highest among men aged 40 to 44. Among women, those aged 40 to 44 have recorded the highest number of divorces each year since 2008.

The average (mean) age at divorce for both men and women has increased every year between 1985 and 2014, rising by over 8 years (Figure 4).

When considering changes in the number of divorces by age for men and women, it is important to also take account of the size of the married population, since any changes in this will affect the number of divorces. In 2014, the number of men and women divorcing per thousand married men or women (divorce rate) decreased in all age groups, compared with 2013. It should be noted that in 2014, 8% of records have no age stated for the wife and 9% of records have no age stated for the husband; rates by age have been calculated excluding these records - the Quality and methodology section, point 10 provides further information.

Figures 5 and 6 compare divorce rates in 2004 and 2014 for men and women respectively. For men, divorce rates have declined in all age groups; for women, rates have declined for those aged under 55 but increased by 1.9% for ages 55 to 59 and remained unchanged for ages 60 and over.

Men and women aged under 20 have recorded the greatest percentage decrease in divorce rates between 2004 and 2014, reducing by 84% for men and 80% for women. At older ages, divorce rates have decreased by smaller amounts; rates for men aged 55 to 59 and 60 and over declined by 2.6% and 4.5% respectively.
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6. How long do marriages which end in divorce last?

The median duration of marriage (the mid-point of all durations) for divorces granted in 2014 was 11.7 years, unchanged from 2013. There has been a very gradual increase in the median duration of marriages which end in divorce since 2009 when it was 11.4 years. Over the last 50 years, the median duration has remained relatively stable fluctuating between 8.9 years and 12.2 years (Figure 7).
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7. What percentage of marriages end in divorce?

The percentage of marriages ending in divorce has generally increased for those marrying between the early 1970s and the early 1990s. For example 22% of marriages in 1970 had ended by the 15th wedding anniversary, whereas 33% of marriages in 1995 had ended after the same period of time. For those marrying since 2000, there is some evidence of decreases in the proportion of marriages ending in divorce. The proportion of men and women who had ever divorced has also declined over recent decades.

The cumulative percentages of marriages which end in divorce increase more rapidly in the first 10 years of marriage than the 10 years after that. Once the 20th wedding anniversary is reached, the cumulative percentages increase less rapidly.

More explanations of these trends are available alongside the data.
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9. What has changed within this publication?

Following our consultation on user requirements for marriage, divorce and civil partnership statistics for England and Wales which ran from 8 October to 17 December 2013, the data published alongside this release has changed. Summary tables now provide a long time series for comparison, with one table providing data back to 1858. An explorable dataset can be used to obtain more detailed statistics for 2009 to 2014. A document summarising these changes and the responses we received to our consultation was published in April 2014.

Improvements have also been made to this bulletin and its contents, to provide a more concise summary of the main statistics. We welcome feedback on these changes.
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10. Quality and methodology

1. This is the first time that divorce statistics for England and Wales have been published for 2014; the release provides final annual data.

2. We aim to publish annual divorce statistics around 12 to 13 months after the end of the reference period. The release of 2014 statistics was delayed due to data processing changes required given our move to receiving data electronically from the 2013 data year instead of paper forms; this required more time to be spent on detailed quality assurance. Delays to other related publications have also impacted on the publication of 2014 divorce statistics due to available staff resource. From 2016 we have been receiving monthly datasets rather than annual - this will enable more timely future publications.

3. Divorce statistics are compiled to enable the analysis of social and demographic trends. They are also used for considering and monitoring policy changes.

4. The Divorces Quality and Methodology Information document contains important information on:

the strengths and limitations of the data

the quality of the output: including the accuracy of the data, how it compares with related data

uses and users

how the output was created

5. Our User Guide to Divorce Statistics provides further information on data quality, legislation and procedures relating to divorces and includes a glossary of terms.

6. Divorce statistics are comparable between countries within the UK; more information on comparability is contained in Divorces Quality and Methodology Information.

7. The Revisions policy for population statistics (including divorce statistics) is available on our website.

8. The average (mean) ages presented in this release have not been standardised for age, and therefore do not take account of the changing structure of the male and female population by age and marital status.

9. Male and female divorce rates are calculated by dividing the number of males or females divorcing in a particular year by the estimated number of married males or females aged 16 and over in that year ( population estimates by marital status). While the actual number of males and females getting divorced in a particular year is equal, the number of married males and females can differ because 1 partner could live away, either overseas or in a communal establishment such as a care home or prison. For this reason, divorce rates for males and females can differ for a particular year.

10. One way to assess the impact of records where the age at divorce was not stated on divorce rates for 2014, is to proportionately distribute the 'not stated' ages using the age distribution where age was recorded in 2014. Using this approach, 2014 divorce rates are lower than in 2013 except for men aged 50 and over and women aged 40 to 59, where rates either increased slightly or remained unchanged. When compared with 2004, this approach suggests that divorce rates are lower in 2014 with the exception of men aged 55 and over, and women aged 50 and over where rates increased slightly.

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Divorces in England and Wales - Office for National Statistics

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There were 111,169 divorces in 2014, a decrease of 3.1% compared with 2013 and a decline of 27% from a recent peak in 2003. The number of divorces in 2014 was highest among men aged 45 to 49 and women aged 40 to 44.

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What do couple relationships have to do with children's academic achievement? A policy briefing from the Relationships Alliance. (Click here to download the PDF file)
Factors associated with children's academic achievement
While family income and level of parental education have consistently been shown to be associated with children's language development and reading ability (Dollaghan, 1999) (Hart, 1995) (Hoff, 2003) (Arriaga, 1998) (Christian, 1998), other factors have also been identified as playing a role in these aspects of child development, including parental vocabulary, word exposure and joint reading.

While these have received relatively widespread attention, this briefing focuses on two drivers of children's academic achievement - parental relationship quality and quality of parenting - which are arguably under-researched and under-acknowledged. As Harold et al. observe, "few studies have considered the role of the inter-parental relationship as a source of influence on children's academic attainment and fewer still have considered the joint interplay between family problems (inter-parental and parent-child conflict), child behaviour problems and academic well being" (Harold et al., 2007).

Regarding the quality of the relationship between a child's parents and that child's scholastic achievement, research finds:

links between relationship conflict, attention difficulties and school problems (Davies, 2008)

marital conflict to be linked with children's sleep problems which are themselves associated with children's behavioural, emotional, and academic difficulties, including maths, language, verbal and nonverbal achievement (El-Sheikh, 2007a; Mannering, Harold et al., 2011)

exposure to ongoing, acrimonious exchanges to be linked to signs of emotional and behavioural distress in children between the ages of 6 and 17 years (Harold, 2001)

exposure to ongoing, acrimonious discord to be associated with deficits in academic attainment (as well as increased anxiety, depression, aggression, hostility, anti-social behaviour and criminality) (Harold, 2007; Harold et al., 2013)

parental separation (i.e. divorce and post-cohabitation separation) to be associated with lower levels of academic attainment (among a host of negative outcomes), leading the authors of this meta-analysis to conclude that "the argument that parental divorce presents few problems for children's long-term development is simply inconsistent with the literature on this topic" (Amato, 1991; Harold and Murch 2005).

Regarding particular aspects of parenting behaviour and children's academic achievement, research shows:

parental (particularly maternal) sensitivity, i.e. encouragement, warmth and emotional support, to predict:

1. language ability at 15 to 36 months (NICHD, 1999)

2. development in later language and reading beyond socio-demographic characteristics of individual families (Wade, 2013)

3. teacher-reported readiness skills, social skills, communication skills, and receptive communication (Connell, 2002).

U nderstanding the link between parenting style and the quality of parental relationships
Having identified that certain kinds of parenting behaviours are linked with children's achievement and development, it can be tempting - and to a large extent social policy in the UK in recent years bears this assertion out - to focus exclusively on such behaviour at the level of the individual parent - with little, or no, regard for the context within which individual parents bring up their children.

Such a focus has led to the widespread use of parenting programmes which do not, on the whole, pay attention to the relationship between the parents concerned (TCCR, 2011).

And yet, with research showing that families account for 40% of the overall variance between children in their academic progress during secondary schooling (compared with the wider shared environments of primary school (9%), secondary school (10%), neighbourhood (2%), LEA (1%) and child characteristics (38%)) (Rasbash, 2010) (Leckie, 2010), it is legitimate, and somewhat overdue, to look more closely at the role which family (and particularly parental) relationships play in children's readiness for learning and academic achievement.

And while the Rasbash study mentioned above (which followed a cohort of half a million school children through secondary schooling) was not able to identify how much of this family impact related to genetic factors or parenting ones, other sources of research strongly suggest that parenting and parental relationships play a substantial role.

For, as Professors Carolyn and Philip Cowan observe: "In families with authoritative parents [i.e. those in which parents are warm and responsive, structure tasks, and set reasonable limits for their children's behavior, and at the same time grant the children age-appropriate autonomy (Baumrind (1980)], young children and adolescents show more advanced academic achievement, greater competence in relationships with peers, and fewer problem behaviors than peers whose parents have authoritarian or permissive parenting styles ((Conger, 1994; Cowan, 1998; Parke, 1998; Steinberg, 2001 referenced in Cowan, 2005))."
Policy implications
"Parents who are authoritarian, punitive, and harsh (structured and limit-setting without warmth and responsiveness) or permissive (warm but laissez-faire)", these authors continue, "tend to have offspring who are less academically and socially competent and more likely to have behavior problems - as described by teachers, parents, peers, or the children and adolescents themselves in different studies" (Cowan, 2005).

While research implicates both the quality of the parental relationship and parenting behaviour as factors in children's academic achievement, it is the latter which has enjoyed more sway in influencing UK family policy in recent years.

Relatively little acknowledged in policy spheres here is the link between parenting style and the quality of the relationship between parents. And yet almost every study examining associations between parental relationships and parenting has found that the quality of the relationship between parent and child to be linked to the quality of the relationship between the parents (Lindahl, 1997).

Moreover, "when parents report greater intimacy and better communication in their marriage, they tend to be more attuned to and affectionate toward their children. The most consistent findings indicate that happily married parents are more sensitive, responsive, warm and affectionate toward their children" (Grych, 2002). Crucially, therefore, research tells us that "when the parents' relationship as a couple is troubled, one parent or both are less likely to have a more effective, authoritative parenting style with their children" (Cowan, 2005).

So, while it is undoubtedly heartening that the Department for Education has provided funding to test the Cowans' approach in the UK (i.e. the 'Parents as Partners' programme delivered by Family Action and TCCR), there needs to be a fundamental shift in understanding such that the link between what goes on in families (and particularly between parents) and what goes on in schools is more widely acknowledged and appreciated.
References
For while school standards, governance, infrastructure and curricula all play a major role in providing the environment for children to learn and achieve, we must do more to address other key determinants of children's academic success or failure. As the leading academics on this subject observe: "Enhancing the couple's ability to resolve disagreements and solve problems effectively in their relationship as partners can produce substantial benefits in terms of enhanced marital interactions, more effective parenting strategies, and ultimately the children's academic achievement and relationships with peers in the early elementary school grades" (Cowan, 2005).

Amato, P. R., Keith, B. (1991) Parental Divorce and Adult Well-Being: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Marriage and Family. Vol. 53, No. 1, pp. 43-58

Arriaga, R. I., Fenson, L., Cronan, T., & Pethick, S. J. (1998). Scores on the MacArthur communicative development inventory of children from lowand middle-income families. Applied Psycholinguistics, 19, 209-223.

Baumrind, D. (1980). New directions in socialization research. American Psychologist,, 35(7), 639 - 652.

Christian, K., Morrison, F., & Bryant, F. (1998). Predicting kindergarten academic skills: Interactions among child care, maternal education, and family literacy environments. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 13, 501-521.

Conger, R.D., Ge, X., Elder, G.H. & Lorenz, F.O. (1994). Economic stress, coercive family process, and developmental problems of adolescents. Special Issue: Children and Poverty. Child Development, 65(2), 541 - 561.

Connell, C. M., & Prinz, R. J. (2002). The impact of childcare and parent-child interactions on school readiness and social skills development for low-income African American children. Journal of School Psychology, 40, 177-93.

Cowan, P.A., Powell, D. & Cowan, C.P. (1998). Parenting interventions: a family systems perspective. In W. Damon (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology (Fifth ed., Vol. 4). New York: John Wiley.

Cowan, C., P. & Cowan, P. (2005) Two central roles for couple relationships: breaking negative intergenerational patterns and enhancing children's adaptation Sexual and Relationship Therapy Vol 20, No. 3

Davies, P. T., Woitach, M. J., Winter, M. A., & Cummings, E. M. (2008). Children's insecure representations of the Interparental relationship and their school adjustment: The mediating role of attention difficulties. Child Development, 79, 1570-1582.

Dollaghan, C. A., Campbell, T. F., Paradise, J. L., Feldman, H. M., Janosky, J. E., Pitcairn, D. N., et al. (1999). Maternal education and measures of early speech and language. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 42, 1432-1443.

El-Sheikh, M., Buckhalt, J. A., Keller, P., Cummings, E. M., & Acebo, C. (2007a). Child emotional insecurity and academic achievement: The role of sleep disruptions. Journal of Family Psychology, 2, 29-38.

Grych, J. H. (2002) Marital Relationships and Parenting in Handbook of Parenting, Volume 4, Social Conditions and Applied Parenting. Ed. Bornstein. M. H. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Harold, G. T., Pryor, J., & Reynolds, J. (2001). Not in front of the children? How conflict between parents affects children. One-Plus-One Marriage and Partnership Research: London.

Harold, G. T., Murch, M. (2005) Inter-parental conflict and children's adaptation to separation and divorce: theory, research and implications for family law, practice and policy. Child and Family Law Quarterly, 17, 2.

Harold, G. T., Aitken, J. J. and Shelton, K. H. (2007), Inter-parental conflict and children's academic attainment: a longitudinal analysis. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 48

Harold, G., Leve, L., Elam, K., Thapar, A., Neiderhiser, J., Ntsuaki, M., Shaw, D., Reiss, D. (2013) The Nature of Nurture: Disentangling Passive Genotype-Environment Correlation From Family Relationship Influences on Children's Externalizing Problems. Journal of Family Psychology, 27, 1, pp.12-21

Hart, B., & Risley, T. R. (1995). Meaningful differences in the everyday experience of young American children. Baltimore:Brookes Publishing Company, Inc.

Hoff, E. (2003). The specificity of environmental influence: Socioeconomic status affects early vocabulary development via maternal speech. Child Development, 74, 1368-1378.

Leckie G.B., Pillinger R.J., Jenkins J. and Rasbash J. (2010) Children's educational progress: family, school and area effects. Significance, 7, 67-70.

Lindahl, K.M., Clements, M. & Markman, H. (1997). Predicting marital and parent functioning in dyads and triads: A longitudinal investigation of marital processes. Journal of Family Psychology, 11(2), 139 - 151.

Mannering A., Leve, L., Shaw, D., Neiderhiser, J., Harold, G., Shelton, K., Conger, R., Scaramella, L., Reiss, D. (2011) Longitudinal Associations Between Marital Instability and Child Sleep Problems Across Infancy and Toddlerhood in Adoptive Families. Child Development, 82, 4, pp.1252-1266

National Institute of Child and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network (NICHD-ECCRN). (1999). Chronicity of maternal depressive symptoms, maternal sensitivity and child functioning at 36 months. Developmental Psychology, 35, 1297-1310.

Parke, R.D. & Buriel, R. (1998). Socialization in the family: Ethnic and ecological perspectives. In N. Eisenberg (Ed.), Social, emotional, and personality development (Fifth ed., Vol. 3) (pp. 463 - 552). New York: John Wiley.

Rasbash J., Leckie G., Pillinger R. and Jenkins J. (2010) Children's educational progress: partitioning family, school and area effects. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A (Statistics in Society), 173, 657-682

Steinberg, L. (2001). We know some things: Parent-adolescent relationships in retrospect and prospect. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 11(1), 1 - 19.

TCCR (2011). Parenting work which focuses on the parental couple relationship. A policy briefing paper from TCCR
The Relationships Alliance, a corsortium comprising Relate, Marriage Care, One Plus One and the Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationships, exists to ensure that good quality personal and social relationships are more widely acknowledged as central to our health and wellbeing.
Wade, M., Prime, H., Browne, D., Jenkins, J. (2013) A Multilevel Approach to the Examination of Cognitive Skills in School Readiness. University of Toronto (In press)

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tavistock centre for couple relationships

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What do couple relationships have to do with children's academic achievement? A policy briefing from the Relationships Alliance.

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Number of marriages and divorces, England and Wales

The gap between the number of people marrying than divorcing is now wider than at any time since 1992.

But it follows a much bigger shift towards couples living together unmarried as a result of a transformation of social attitudes.

Recent figures showed the number of families headed by cohabiting couples up by 30 per cent in a decade and more than doubling since the mid-1990s.

Strikingly, the latest divorce figures also offer further evidence that younger couples who do marry are now less likely to divorce than their parents' generation.

Divorces per thousand men and women, England and Wales

The ONS said that while an estimated 42 per cent of marriages now end in divorce, there is evidence that the proportion is decreasing "for the most recent cohorts" - meaning couples who married since 2000.

The figures show, for example, that couples are increasingly likely to survive the so-called "seven year itch".

By 2013, 16 per cent of those who married eight years earlier in 2005 were divorced.

The previous year 17 per cent of couples who married in 2004 had got divorced.

Only eight years earlier the proportion of couples who had divorced by their eighth wedding anniversary was 20 per cent.

Harry Benson, Research Director at the Marriage Foundation, said: "Yet another fall in divorce rates is both hugely encouraging and hugely worrying.

"While it is hugely encouraging that couples who marry today can expect to enjoy the kind of stability we haven't experienced since the early 1970s ... it is hugely worrying that family breakdown continues to rise because couples who don't marry remain so much more at risk of splitting up.

"Government has consistently failed to lead on the importance of marriage for future stability.

"Unless we wish to raise another generation of teenagers of whom half have already experienced family breakdown, the responsibility falls to us as individuals, parents and adults to encourage our young couples to marry."

James Brown, a family lawyer at JMW Solicitors, said: "We have seen a significant portion of couples who marry doing so after a period of cohabitation.

"They opt to convert those relationships into marriages because of the greater security which it represents in the absence of rights for cohabitees.

"Since 2000, there have also been a series of judgements which have underlined the equality in divorce settlements, meaning their spouses can potentially claim a larger share of their assets.

Mean age for women divorcing in 2013 in Eng&Wales was 42.6 years in 2013 (42.2 in 2012) https://t.co/Chs10JOk7E pic.twitter.com/7h97yvKRPo
- Elizabeth McLaren (@StatsLiz) November 23, 2015

"Given that prenuptial agreements are certainly more popular but still not regarded as the norm, many businessmen and women are simply choosing not to marry and, therefore, that is affecting the numbers of divorces too.

"If the Government was to introduce legislation providing prenups with the weight of statute as opposed to just case law, I firmly believe that more entrepreneurs would feel comfortable marrying."

Jo Edwards, chair of the family law organisation Resolution, added: "The rise in cohabiting couples, the fastest growing type of household in Britain, may also play a role [in the changing divorce rates] - cohabitation separation is not included in these statistics."

"Whatever the reason, there are still many thousands of British families who are experiencing family breakdown every year, whether that's divorce or separation."

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Divorce rate at lowest level in 40 years after cohabitation revolution

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Number of marriages and divorces, England and Wales The gap between the number of people marrying than divorcing is now wider than at any time since 1992. But it follows a much bigger shift towards couples living together unmarried as a result of a transformation of social attitudes.

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Family Trajectories and Well-being of Children Born to Lone Mothers in the UK

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We investigate how lone mothers' heterogeneity in partnership trajectories is associated with children's well-being. We use data from the Millennium Cohort Study, which follows a large sample of child

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A comparison between effects of divorce in UK and China