Regardless of whether their parents were living together or apart, all K cohort children were asked how they would best describe their parents’ relationship. Five response options were provided: friendly, cooperative, distant, lots of conflict, and don’t know. The children’s responses are summarised in Table 2.1 (on page 22).
0 20 40 60 80 100
Percentage of children Father nil time a
Father daytime only Father 1−13% Father 14−34% Shared time Father 66−100% Feeling divided loyalties between parents Feeling relieved and not wishing parents would get back together
Notes: a “Father nil time” refers to seeing the child less than once a year or not at all, “shared time” refers to 35–65% of
nights with each parent. Sample sizes: father nil time, n = 90–91; father daytime only, n = 106; father 1–13% nights, n = 112; father 14–34% nights; n = 225–226; shared time, n = 86; father 66–100% nights, n = 63. For each care-time group, numbers of children on which percentages were based may vary slightly due to non-response to individual items. Confidence intervals are shown by the horizontal line extending beyond each bar. A lack of overlap in the confidence intervals for comparison groups (or slight overlap—see note a in Figure 2.2) indicates that the values are statistically
significantly different at p < .05. Scores ranged from 1.0–5.0, with scores of 3.5–5.0 here taken as reflecting agreement.
Figure 2.5: Proportions of children who felt relieved or had divided loyalties about their parents’ separation, by care-time arrangements reported by their resident parent, K cohort, Wave 5
Feeling divided loyalties between parents Feeling relieved and not wishing parents would get back together
0 20 40 60 80 100
Percentage of children
< 1 year 1–4 years 5–9 years 10+ years
Notes: Sample sizes: < 1 year, n = 298 (including 36–38 children whose parents had never lived together or had separated before they were born); 1–4 years, n = 103; 5–9 years, n = 166; 10+ years, n = 126. For each group, numbers of children on which percentages were based may vary slightly due to refusals to individual items. Confidence intervals are shown by the horizontal line extending beyond each bar. A lack of overlap in the confidence intervals for comparison groups (or slight overlap—see note a in Figure 2.2) indicates that the values are statistically significantly different at
p < .05. Scores ranged from 1.0–5.0, with scores of 3.5–5.0 here taken as reflecting agreement.
Figure 2.6: Proportions of children who felt relieved or had divided loyalties about their parents’ separation, by their age at separation, K cohort, Wave 5
The extent to which children’s views about their parents’ separation varied according to their care-time arrangements, as described by the children, is summarised in Figure 2.4. Children were divided into three groups according to whether they indicated that they mostly/only lived with their mother or father or whether they lived for an equal time with both parents. Children who reported living mostly or only with their father were more likely than children in the other two care-time arrangements to indicate experiencing divided loyalties (34% vs 18–20%), while trends for children with the other two living arrangements were very similar. A higher proportion of children who lived mostly or only with their mother compared to those in the other two groups expressed feeling relieved about their parents’ separation and not wishing that their parents would get back together (34% vs 26–30%), although this result was not statistically significant.
Mostly (or only) with mother Mostly (or only) with father
Equally with both parents
0 20 40 60 80 100
Percentage of children Feeling divided
loyalties between parents Feeling relieved and not wishing parents would get back together
Notes: Sample sizes: with mother, n = 505; with father, n = 57; equally with both parents, n = 136. Confidence intervals are shown by the horizontal line extending beyond each bar. A lack of overlap in the confidence intervals for comparison groups (or slight overlap—see note a in Figure 2.2) indicates that the values are statistically significantly different at
p < .05. Scores ranged from 1.0–5.0, with scores of 3.5–5.0 here taken as reflecting agreement.
Figure 2.4: Proportions of children who felt relieved or had divided loyalties about their parents’ separation, by children’s reports of which parent they mostly lived with, K cohort, Wave 5
The views of children in the care-time arrangements identified on the basis of the resident parents’ reports are presented in Figure 2.5 (on page 21). Children who had not seen their father in the previous 12 months were significantly more likely than children in other care-time arrangements to express relief about the separation, with little desire for parental reconciliation (50% vs 25–33%). Children who had not seen their father in the previous 12 months also seemed less likely than other children to experience divided loyalties, though the results were not statistically significant. Figure 2.6 (on page 21) presents children’s views on parental separation according to their age at the time their parents separated. Children’s views on all three issues pertaining to parental separation did not vary significantly according to how old they were when their parents separated.
2.5 Children’s perceptions of the quality of the
inter-parental relationship
Regardless of whether their parents were living together or apart, all K cohort children were asked how they would best describe their parents’ relationship. Five response options were provided: friendly, cooperative, distant, lots of conflict, and don’t know. The children’s responses are summarised in Table 2.1 (on page 22).
0 20 40 60 80 100
Percentage of children Father nil time a
Father daytime only Father 1−13% Father 14−34% Shared time Father 66−100% Feeling divided loyalties between parents Feeling relieved and not wishing parents would get back together
Notes: a “Father nil time” refers to seeing the child less than once a year or not at all, “shared time” refers to 35–65% of
nights with each parent. Sample sizes: father nil time, n = 90–91; father daytime only, n = 106; father 1–13% nights, n = 112; father 14–34% nights; n = 225–226; shared time, n = 86; father 66–100% nights, n = 63. For each care-time group, numbers of children on which percentages were based may vary slightly due to non-response to individual items. Confidence intervals are shown by the horizontal line extending beyond each bar. A lack of overlap in the confidence intervals for comparison groups (or slight overlap—see note a in Figure 2.2) indicates that the values are statistically
significantly different at p < .05. Scores ranged from 1.0–5.0, with scores of 3.5–5.0 here taken as reflecting agreement.
Figure 2.5: Proportions of children who felt relieved or had divided loyalties about their parents’ separation, by care-time arrangements reported by their resident parent, K cohort, Wave 5
Feeling divided loyalties between parents Feeling relieved and not wishing parents would get back together
0 20 40 60 80 100
Percentage of children
< 1 year 1–4 years 5–9 years 10+ years
Notes: Sample sizes: < 1 year, n = 298 (including 36–38 children whose parents had never lived together or had separated before they were born); 1–4 years, n = 103; 5–9 years, n = 166; 10+ years, n = 126. For each group, numbers of children on which percentages were based may vary slightly due to refusals to individual items. Confidence intervals are shown by the horizontal line extending beyond each bar. A lack of overlap in the confidence intervals for comparison groups (or slight overlap—see note a in Figure 2.2) indicates that the values are statistically significantly different at
p < .05. Scores ranged from 1.0–5.0, with scores of 3.5–5.0 here taken as reflecting agreement.
Figure 2.6: Proportions of children who felt relieved or had divided loyalties about their parents’ separation, by their age at separation, K cohort, Wave 5
Table 2.1: Children’s perceptions of the quality of the inter-parental relationship, by whether parents were separated or living together, K cohort, Wave 5
Inter-parental relationship Parents had separated (%) Parents lived together with child (%)
Friendly 25.1 63.0 Cooperative 22.1 22.3 Distant 18.9 1.7 Lots of conflict 15.8 1.6 Don’t know 18.1 11.4 Total 100.0 100.0 No. of children 714 2,833
Note: A chi-square test was used to compare response distributions between the two groups of children (χ2 (4, n = 3547)
= 764.81; p < .001).
Of the children with a non-resident parent, nearly one-half (47%) described the relationship between their parents as either friendly or cooperative, with similar proportions reporting each of these options. On the other hand, 16% reported lots of conflict between their parents, 19% considered the relationship to be a distant one, and 18% expressed uncertainty. By contrast, the reports of children who were living with both (biological) parents tended to be much more positive,11 with 63% describing the relationship between their parents as friendly and 22% as cooperative; that is, 85% provided either of these two favourable assessments. Few children who were living with both parents in the same home described the inter-parental relationship as distant or marked by conflict (these alternatives were each selected by less than 2% of the children). A slightly smaller proportion of children who were living with both parents than those with separated parents indicated uncertainty about the quality of their parents’ relationship with each other (11% vs 18%).