Blurred lines on marriage ‘are blighting young lives’
Advantages over living together are ‘a social justice issue’, think tank report tells Government
THE Government is today accused of “blurring the lines” es between marriage and cohabitation n in a report warning family instability y is one of the leading causes of problems ms for children.
Revealing that the Government fails to distinguish between etween the married and unmarried in n its data collection, reports and reviews, iews, the report by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) suggests that addressing dressing the problem could help to reduce educe the £51billion per year cost of family amily breakdown.
The report, Family amily Structure Still Matters, which was written by Cristina Odone, former editor of the Catholic c Herald, found that cohabiting habiting couples are four times more likely to split lit up, while 70 per cent nt of young offenders come from families in which parents separated. d.
The Newcastle wcastle Thousand Families amilies study had previously viously showed a boy’s chance of a criminal conviction viction up to the age of 32 doubled if he experienced erienced family separation n before the age of five.
And children aged five to 10 are twice as likely to have a mental health alth disorder if their parents cohabit rather than marry (six and nd 12 per cent).
The CSJ report t also reveals income is a major determinant in whether parents get married. Of high earners, 83 3 per cent are married and 11 per er cent cohabit. Among the poorest, est, 55 per cent marry and 21 per cent cohabit.
A teenager growing owing up in the poorest 20 per cent of households is two-thirds ds more likely to experience family breakdown than a teenager in the top 20 per cent. Even when controlling for income and education, children raised in unstable families suffer worse health, are more likely to be excluded, more likely to join a gang and end up as NEET (not in employment or education).
The report says: “To pretend these family structures are interchangeable is to cheat couples, and in particular the most disadvantaged, of the best basis for a stable relationship”.
Ms Odone, head of the CSJ family policy unit, said: “Marriage has become a middleclass secret.” She claimed the marriage “gap” had become a “social justice issue”. “Including both same sex and
‘The consequences of family instability are alarming, while the benefits conferred by marriage are inspiring’
opposite sex marriages in its analysis, Family Structure Still Matters shows married parents are twice as likely to stay together as cohabiting ones,” Ms Odone said.
Referring to the “huge” cost of family breakdown to the NHS, the criminal justice system and the Treasury, she went on: “Less quantifiable but equally corrosive is the impact on society: the anti-social behaviour of even a tiny minority can erode trust and well-being among the majority.”
She said it was “surprising the Government fails to distinguish between marriage and cohabitation,” when “the consequences of family instability are alarming; while the benefits conferred by marriage are inspiring”.
She added: “In its language around family structure, including, crucially in its data collection, government persists in blurring the two categories of married and cohabiting. Official silence on this issue has sent out the message that marriage and cohabitation are interchangeable. Yet we have seen how the two structures lead to widely different outcomes.
“By ignoring this distinction, the Government risks robbing couples of making an informed choice about what kind of relationship they should embark on. It will be difficult to shortchange middle-class young people, as their parents are more likely to be married, and this cohort will know firsthand the advantages of matrimony.
“But to short-change young people in low-income households, who are not likely to have enjoyed the lived experience of family stability, will be easier – and unforgivable.
“The benefits conferred by marriage should be shared equally.”