7. Adverse effects of family breakdown.

• At the root of many of the problems we see in children and young adults - such as emotional and behavioral difficulties, poor school performance, substance misuse, precocious teenage sexuality including teenage pregnancy and juvenile delinquency - is the dramatic increase in family breakup and ‘relationship turnover’ of parents, adversely affecting their children(For anoverview see: Rebecca O’Neill. Experiments in living. CIVITAS. 2002)
• As a result of family breakdown, children have on average more ill health including higher mortality, emotional problems (including a higher suicide rate).
• Children from broken families have poorer school performance including poorer performance in maths, reading and writing.
• Children from broken families are more likely to live in poverty. As a result of family breakdown, many single parent familieslive in poverty.
• Children from broken families are also more likely to have problems with substance misuse and poor sexual health including teenage pregnancy.
• Furthermore, children from broken homes are more likely to be engaging in criminal activity and are disproportionally over-represented in the prison population.
• In a study of more than 170 US cities, a clear link between divorce rate and crime was found. Low rates of divorce wereassociated with reduced crime rates.(Sampson RJ, Crime in Cities. Tonry & Morris eds., Crime and Justice, Chicago 1992)