‘Staying married not always best for kids’

Jane Palmer

Mail on Sunday

LONDON: Couples who stay married for the sake of the children are not necessarily doing the best thing for their youngsters’ mental health.

Children who spend time with each of their divorced parents are no more likely to suffer from mental health problems than children of parents who remain together, Swedish researchers have concluded.

They examined 150 000 Swedish schoolchildren to see how divorce and shared living arrangements affected their mental health.

The researchers from Stockholm University Centre for Health Equity Studies found negligible differences in the mental health of children who lived with each parent in turn, compared to that of children with cohabiting or married parents.

This living arrangement in generally does not imply worsened health for children who are four years and older, said research Emma Fransson of Stockholm University. Sensitive parenting and predictability of everyday life is important when raising children.

This research implies that it is possible for parents to provide these features also if they do not live together. In six of the studies, the team also found that children living in turn with each parent had better mental health than those who lived with just one parent.

This could be a matter of better resources and better health to begin with, Fransson says.

However, it could also result from higher support from both parents.

There was no suggestion that children fared better or worse depending on the gender of the parent they lived with.

The findings support evidence from University College London, published last month, that children brought up by just one parent are three times as likely to suffer from severe emotional and behavioural problems.

A recent census found that nearly 400 000 children under the age of 16 in Britain divide their time between two households. Earlier this month, US research suggested that individuals whose parents divorced before their seventh birthdays were more likely to suffer ill health in midlife.

A Pennsylvania State University team analysed data on close to 15 000 adults born in the UK in 1958, and found a clear link between the number of health problems reported at the age of 50 and a parental divorce before the age of seven.

Some of the studies took the finances of each parent into account, but the team found that even when there was no income advantage to living in two houses, children still fared better than those living solely with one parent.