Children who see their father walk out on their family in late childhood and early adolescence are at particular risk of suffering emotional or behavioural problems, according to research from the Centre for Longitudinal Studies at UCL reported in February.
Using data from the Millennium Cohort Study, researchers studied 6,245 children born between 2000 and 2002, where both parents were living together when the child turned three. They examined reports of children’s mental health at ages three, five, seven, 11 and 14, including emotional problems, such as feelings of low mood and anxiety, and behavioural problems, such as acting out and disobedience. Information on children who experienced family breakdown was compared with those where the family remained intact.
Emotional & behavioural problems
A fifth of children in the study saw their parents separate between the ages of three and 14 and, on average, they suffered a 16% increase in emotional problems and an 8% rise in conduct issues in the short-term. While increased emotional problems were evident in both boys and girls, only boys experienced heightened behavioural issues. Children from more privileged backgrounds were just as likely to have mental health problems as their less advantaged peers.
Reflecting on why children who suffered the breakdown of family relationships in later childhood were more vulnerable to mental health problems than younger children, Professor Emla Fitzsimons, who co-authored the study, suggested that one possible reason might be that ‘children are more sensitive to relationship dynamics’ between the ages of seven and 14, and that ‘family break-ups may also be more disruptive to schooling and peer relationships at this stage of childhood’.1
