Introduction

The Joint Department of Health and Department for Education Green Paper, published in December 2017, cites various recent studies which give a general indication of the prevalence of mental health issues experienced by one in ten children and young people. It suggests that: ‘This equates to around 850,000 children with a diagnosable mental health disorder in the UK today.’

Disorders referred to include high anxiety, depression, conduct disorders, eating disorders and autism spectrum disorder. The Green Paper refers to recent research which suggests that self harm may be increasing particularly amongst girls aged 13–16. Worrying though these data are with respect to this book, two points need to be noted. First, there is a problematic issue about the definition of particular disorders (see below). Secondly, the general picture does not focus specifically on the relationship between parental conflict, separation and divorce and the potential impact on children's social and emotional wellbeing. So in this chapter I summarise the principal research findings of social and behavioural science which highlight factors concerning risk and resilience in children when parental conflict results in the breakup of their families. It is not meant to be a fully comprehensive review. For that I refer readers to authorities cited below. My purpose here is simply to indicate the growing background knowledge base for the practice and policy proposals for preventive support services for children which I advance in Part II – Chapters Six and Seven – and the book's conclusions.

An initial point to note: with the exception of a Rowntree programme referred to in the next chapter, much of this research is linked to separate policy areas such as education, the family justice system and child and adolescent mental health services. Consequently, as far as children are concerned, it is not easy to view the relevant knowledge base as a whole, particularly when each area of policy often develops within its own idiosyncratic ‘silo’ and does not always use the same terms. Yet in practice, concepts and definitions often overlap or mean much the same thing.