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Issue Description
Is marriage in decline? Does it have any benefits over cohabitation? What does marriage mean to couples today? How are children affected by their parents divorcing, separating or remarrying? This title examines the issues surrounding marriage, divorce and the changing structure of the family. Chapters cover marriage trends and divorce and separation.
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Key Facts
- Getting married is still popular in Britain, with most people marrying at some point in their lives. Choosing to share your life with a partner is still the most common lifestyle choice. 57% of British households consisted of a married or cohabiting heterosexual couple in 2006. (page 1)
- Analysis of marriage expectations suggests that cohabiting partners are less likely to marry each other once they have had a baby: a larger proportion of women with children than childless women (60% compared with 45%) never wish to marry their present partner, and the results are similar for men (66% compared with 47%). (page 2)
- Marriage rates in England and Wales have fallen to the lowest level since records began, according to provisional figures for 2006 released by the ONS. (page 6)
- Despite a campaign to raise awareness, half of people (51%) still believe (wrongly) that there is such a thing as ‘common-law marriage’ which gives cohabitants the same rights as married couples. (page 12)
- There is growing concern thousands of British girls are being taken out of schools and forced into marriages after new figures hinted the problem was far worse than previously thought. A study by the Home Office found there were more than 300 inquiries in the town of Luton in one year and the issue is likely to be widespread across the country. (page 20)
- The highest number of divorces – 10 per cent – occur during the second year of marriage, according to figures from Divorce-Online.co.uk. (page 27)
- If current divorce rates continue around 45 per cent of marriages will end in divorce, according to a new study of the expected ‘life’ of marriages published today by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). It shows that almost half of these divorces will happen before married couples reach their tenth anniversary. (page 28)
- It has emerged that kids who see their parents break up are more likely not to want children of their own in the future. Researchers also found children whose mum and dad split are more likely to struggle to find true happiness in their own lives. (page 31)
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Table of Contents
Chapter One: Marriage Trends
Changing marriage, Marriage, relationships and family trends, Marriage rates fall to lowest on record, Cohabitees aspire towards marriage, Marriage survey results, Is it the beginning of the end for marriage?, The ‘common-law marriage’ myth, Why adultery can help save a marriage, Cohabitation, The changing family, Love by numbers, What is a forced marriage?, Escaping forced marriage, ‘Thousands’ of British girls in forced marriages.
Chapter Two: Divorce and Separation
Divorce and dissolution of civil partnership, The end of a marriage, Divorces, Legal jargon explained, Risk of divorce, 45 per cent of marriages will end in divorce, Caught in the crossfire, Kids in the middle, The emotional cost of parental separation, Happiness, hopes and wellbeing, Divorce law and your children, Contact patterns after separation and divorce, Mediation and you.
Key Facts
Glossary
Index
Additional Resources
Acknowledgements
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The Study Guide for: Marriage and Cohabitation - Volume 166
Each book in the Issues series has a study guide. These four-page guides provide a variety of discussion points and other activities to suit a wide range of ability levels and interests.
Publisher: Independence Educational Publishers
Price: £1.95
ISBN: 978 1 86168 492 9