A Profile of Recently Divorced or Separated Mothers and Fathers

by Clarence Lochhead and Jenni Tipper

he likelihood that a marriage will end in divorce is much higher today than it was 40 years ago. In 1969, the percentage of marriages expected to end in divorce before the 30th wedding anniversary was 13.6%, or about one in seven. In comparison, 38% of marriages in 2004 were expected to end in divorce. While this long term trend is unlikely to surprise most readers, what may be less well known is that the total divorce rate has been quite stable over the past fifteen years, and is actually down from its record high of 48% in the late 1980s.

805,000 Recently Divorced or Separated Parents

According to the Statistics Canadas 2006 General Social Survey (GSS), there were an estimated 2 million individuals who had been divorced or separated from a marital or common-law union between 2001 and 2006. The majority of these recently divorced/separated men and women (60%) did not have any children under the age of

18 at the time of their separation or divorce. The other 40% - some 805,000 mothers and fathers had at least one child under 18 years of age from their former union. As might be expected, the likelihood of a divorce or common-law separation involving a child under 18 is greater for some age groups than others. For example, more than one-half of individuals aged 35 to 54 who have been recently divorced/separated had a child under 18. Among younger divorced/separated individuals (under the age of 25), only 15% involved dependant children under 18. Given these age differences, it is not surprising that two-thirds of recently divorced/separated parents (67%) are between the ages of 35 and 54, and 93% are between the ages of 25 and 54. Only about 5% of recently
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iStockphoto.com/Leigh Schindler

In this article, we take a closer look at men and women who have recently gone through a divorce or separation, including those who have left a common-law relationship.1 Our particular focus is on divorced or separated parents with dependent children. Parenting can be a challenge under the best of circumstances. Parenting through and after a divorce or separation can be especially demanding, as parents and their children find themselves adapting to a variety of changes in their family relationships, living arrangements, financial circumstances, and so on.

Table 1

Highest level of education, Recently Divorced or Separated Parents, 2006

recently divorced or separated fathers university degree community college/trade some post-secondary high school diploma not completed high school not stated total 20% 34% 13% 18% 13% 3% 100%

recently divorced or separated mothers 17% 35% 18% 16% 11% 3% 100%

Source: Prepared by the Vanier Institute of the Family using Statistics Canada 2006 GSS microdata

divorced parents are under the age of 25, and very few of those are teenagers.

Education, Employment and Income

The level of educational attainment among the Canadian population has increased dramatically over the past several decades, particularly among women. These educational gains are evident among recently divorced mothers and fathers as well. As Table 1 shows, the majority of these fathers (54%) and mothers (52%) have a uniLiving Arrangements versity degree, college Following Divorce or diploma or certificate. Separation Relatively few divorced or Although recently divorced or separated One of the more obvious separated parents have not completed high school mothers have high levels of educational changes following a (13% of fathers and 11% of attainment and strong attachments to the divorce or separation is mothers). Along with the change in living labour force, their personal and household arrangements of the parthese high levels of education, most divorced or sepincome situations continue to lag behind ents and children. At the arated parents have a time of separation many those of men. strong attachment to the families change residence, paid workforce, with 85% sometimes more than of fathers and 69% of once. One of the chalmothers describing their lenges of parenting after main activity during the previous year as working at a divorce is precisely that of the physical separation of parpaid job or business. As a result, income from employents and children into different households. ment is the main source of income for both groups. According to the results of an American longitudinal Although recently divorced or separated mothers have high levels of educational attainment and strong attachments to the labour force, their personal and household
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income situations continue to lag behind those of men. As Table 2 shows, recently divorced or separated mothers are more than twice as likely as divorced or separated fathers to have personal incomes of less than $30,000 (44% of mothers have this level of personal annual income compared with 19% of fathers).2 A comparison of total household income shows 28% of recently divorced or separated mothers below $30,000, compared with 12% of recently divorced or separated fathers.

study, after the initial change of residence, the future mobility of divorced and separated people is about one and a half times to double that of married people. And,
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in addition to the disruption and stress that often accompanies moving, moves are also likely to reflect downward income mobility in the case of lone-parent families.3 The types of households formed in the wake of a separation can be quite diverse as some parents will find a new partner, perhaps remarry, or in some cases, move back to their own parental home. As Table 3 shows, the new living arrangements formed by divorced or separated fathers are quite different from those of recently divorced or separated mothers. The most common arrangement among mothers is as a lone-parent household (66%). In comparison, 30% of recently divorced/separated fathers live in this type of household. In the wake of a divorce or separation, fathers are far more likely than mothers to be living alone (25% compared with 6%), and more apt to be living with a parent or parents (8% and 1% respectively). A similar percentage of both fathers and mothers are living in step-families within five years of their divorce or separation.

services, or in a relatively small number of instances, a court-ordered arrangement as a result of a hearing or trial. Among those parents who do have a time agreement, the majority express a relatively high level of satisfaction with the amount of time spent with their child(ren). Overall, more women (82.5%) than men (67.5%) claim to be either very satisfied or satisfied. This difference is, in part, due to living arrangements: a greater proportion of women live in the primary residence with their child(ren) and, therefore, spend more time with their child(ren) simply by virtue of proximity and ongoing contact. Not surprisingly, when the child resides primarily in an ex-spouses home, time related satisfaction rates drop significantly for both men and women and any gender differences all but disappear.
iStockphoto.com/Quavondo Nguyen

What about time?

Even though divorced or separated parents may not live with their children on a full-time basis, about six out of ten indicate that they have some type of arrangement or agreement with their ex-spouse or ex-partner about the amount of time each parent will spend with the child. These agreements may be informal verbal agreements, or agreements arrived at with the assistance of mediation

Table 2

Annual Personal and Household Income, Recently Divorced or Separated Mothers and Fathers, 2006 recently divorced or separated fathers 19% 29% 37% 15% 100% recently divorced or separated mothers 44% 30% 11% 16% 100%

Annual Personal Income less than $30,000 $30,000 to $59,999 $60,000 or more not stated or dont know total Annual Household Income less than $30,000 $30,000 to $59,999 $60,000 or more not stated or dont know total

12% 26% 49% 13% 100%

28% 31% 23% 19% 100%

Source: Prepared by the Vanier Institute of the Family using Statistics Canada 2006 GSS microdata

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Table 3

Living Arrangements of Recently Divorced or Separated Mothers and Fathers

new household living arrangements living alone with a new partner - no kids step family with common kids step family without common kids with new partner and new kids lone parent with parent(s) other total

recently divorced or separated fathers 25% 7% 1% 17% 5% 30% 8% 8% 100%

recently divorced or separated mothers 6% 4% 4% 16% 1% 66% 1% 3% 100%

Source: Prepared by the Vanier Institute of the Family using Statistics Canada 2006 GSS microdata

Conclusion
Marriage may be, for most Canadians, a promise till death do us part, but we now expect almost four out of ten marriages to end in divorce before the 30 anniversary. By virtue of increased rates of cohabitation, the divorce rate, by definition, underestimates the number of conjugal relationships that break up because you have to first get married before you can get divorced. The statistics provided in this article about the situation of recently divorced or separated mothers tell us nothing of the pain, anguish and fears commonly associated with this transition.
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The VIFs Jenni Tipper, Research Associate, Sara MacNaull, Administrative and Program Assistant, and Clarence Lochhead, Executive Director, collaborated to write this article.

Notes:
1 The data presented in this article comes from Statistics Canadas 2006 General Social Survey on Family Transitions. All tables were produced by the authors using the GSS Public Use Microdata File, Catalogue no. 12M0020XCB. 2 It is important to note that the divorced or separated fathers and mothers in this (and all other) tables are not from the same group of divorced or separated couples. In other words, the table does not compare the incomes of spouses and ex-spouses, but rather the incomes of two independent samples of separated or divorced fathers and mothers. 3

That being said, it is important to acknowledge that the vast majority of divorce applications are not contested and proceed without a formal court hearing, and most children of divorce overcome their initial distress and go on to live lives as successfully as children from so-called intact families4. At the same time, we do not want to underestimate the extent and severity of the personal and public policy challenges that may arise when four in ten marriages end in divorce. Whether its living arrangements, time with children, or adequate finances, the challenge for public policy, family law, and parents themselves, is to ensure that the bonds that tie children to their parents remain as nurturing, respectful and positive as they can be.

Pryor, J., Rodgers, B. (2001). Children in Changing Families: Life After Parental Separation. Blackwell Publishers: Massachusetts, p.164

Anne-Marie Ambert (2005). Divorce: Facts, Causes and Consequences. Ottawa: VIF. Contemporary Family Trends. At www.vifamily.ca/library/cft/divorce_05.html#Children
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