Children with divorced parents are twice as likely have mental illness

Lifestyle Relationships
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Interesting and sad article on the consequences of broken homes.

I wonder what is worse for kids… where parents maintain a pretense of a working marriage or when they split up.

Children from broken homes are twice as likely to suffer from mental health problems as those living with married parents, figures showed today.

Boys whose parents had split up had the highest rate of childhood mental illness in 2004, the office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

The figures, from the ONS annual report on UK social trends, showed one fifth of those living with a divorced, separated or widowed parent suffered from at least one disorder.

In contrast, only 8% of boys living with married parents suffered from mental disorders.

The figure was 2% lower than the overall rate of mental disorder among all 5 to 16-year-olds when the previous data was published two years ago.

The data showed a similar gap between the mental wellbeing of girls whose parents had split up and those whose parents lived together.

Around 13% of girls whose parents had split suffered from a disorder, compared with 5% of those whose parents were together.

Boys living with unmarried parents suffered the second highest rate of mental disorder. Just over 15% were affected, compared with just under 15% of those living with an unmarried parent.

Girls living with cohabiting parents fared better, with around 10% suffering from mental disorders. The figure for those living with an unmarried single parent was around 12%.

There was also a higher incidence of mental disorder among children living with stepsiblings - 14% - than those with no stepchildren, where the figure was 9%.

Children were also more likely to suffer from mental health problems as they got older, the ONS found. This was especially the case among girls, with twice as many aged between 11 and 16 suffering from a disorder than those aged 5-10.

Mental ill health also affected children’s school attendance.

In 2004, 17% of those with an emotional disorder such as depression or obsessive compulsive disorder, 14% with conduct disorders and 11% with conditions such as attention deficit disorder were absent from school for more than 15 days.

The equivalent figure for children in good mental health was 4%.

Around one third of those with conduct disorders had been excluded from school, with nearly a quarter of those having been excluded more than once.

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Re: Children with divorced parents are twice as likely have mental illness

maddy I would think that making a pretense of things would only backfire? Children...are not as simple as some people take them to be . They can sense stuff without having it spelled out for them.

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Re: Children with divorced parents are twice as likely have mental illness

goes to show how much kids are affected by the events happening around them as they are growing

i've always told myself we shud be nice and forgive every weirdo we come across in our daily life, da poor chap/chip? might be suffering from some childhood problems for all i know. i mean really, no one wants to be an outcast by their own choice

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Re: Children with divorced parents are twice as likely have mental illness

I’ve often wondered the same thing.
And whenever I have consulted a professional on the subject, or whenever I have seen a real-life example, I have always come to the conclusion that living a false life benefits nobody.

So the “staying together for the sake of the kids” excuse is out the window.

Which GUPPIES know eachother in REAL LIFE???
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Re: Children with divorced parents are twice as likely have mental illness

I think splitting up is still better than living in an unhappy marriage in most cases...both for parents and children. It's a continuos torture and suffering. Parents in such a marriage often think they sacrificed too much and it hurts children...there's a lot of guilt and regret...what if my parents split up and married somebody who was actually suitable for them? When they chose to stay in marriage for us did they think they'd put a fake face in front of us all their lives? pretending like they're really 'together' and happy? and what do the children learn about 'marriage' and about living as such a 'couple' or a 'family' ? can somebody explain to me?

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Re: Children with divorced parents are twice as likely have mental illness

I'm not wholly convinced by this article.

The authors suggest that parents getting divorce has a bad influence on their children and can lead their kids to mental illness.

However,

it is known that persons with mental illness are more likely to divorce. It is also known that mental illnesses can run in families. So, could it not be that the mental illness in children of divorced parents is caused by the illness running in their family and not per se the divorce?

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Re: Children with divorced parents are twice as likely have mental illness

I am not surprised, especially with some of the freaks I have met of late.

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Re: Children with divorced parents are twice as likely have mental illness

Sometimes these studies are such bull. The researchers start out with a hypothesis and the whole thing gets tainted. I don't totally believe in studies being true evidence of something.