What are the causes, consequences and costs associated with parental conflict and family breakdown? What is effective in avoiding or mitigating parental conflict and for whom? How do parental characteristics including worklessness, low skills, lack of stable housing, ethnicity, parents in the perinatal stage, LGBTQ+, being (or having been) a member of the armed forces, mental health and parents with SEND children interact with conflict and influence what works?

Background

This encompasses priorities around:
- promoting financial resilience and reducing poverty, including by harnessing the full set of levers available through the Department and its public bodies, other government departments and Local and Combined Authorities
- supporting people to help meet the cost of living and work across government to support the formulation and delivery of effective housing policies, particularly with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC)
- delivering financial security for low-income working adults, and for children in low-income households

Next steps

Send correspondence and further questions to evidence.strategyteam@dwp.gov.uk.

Source

This question was published as part of the set of ARIs in this document:

DWP Areas of Research Interest 2023 GOV UK

Related UKRI funded projects

  • ChildLives - Family complexity and inequalities in children's lives in Europe: A child-centred life course approach

    This project aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the trends, inequalities, and consequences of family complexity (e.g., divorce, repartnering, stepfamilies) across children's lives in Europe. Family change n...

    Funded by: Horizon Europe Guarantee

    Lead research organisation: University of St Andrews

    Why might this be relevant?

    Partially relevant as it focuses on family complexity and consequences for children, but does not specifically address parental conflict and mitigation strategies.

  • Post-separation families and shared residence: setting the interdisciplinary research agenda for the future.

    Fewer children in the UK are being raised by families consisting exclusively of two biologically related parents and their other off-spring. Post-separation family life raises important issues in both law and moral philo...

    Funded by: AHRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Birmingham

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project partially answers the question by exploring the ethical and legal issues raised by post-separation family life, but does not specifically address the causes, consequences, and costs associated with parental conflict and family breakdown.

  • The Changing Nature of Lone Parenthood and its Consequences

    The increased number of lone-parent families is one of the most significant social trends to have occurred over the last thirty years. Today one-in-four children live in a lone-parent family compared to just one 1-in-20 ...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Bath

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project fully answers the question by examining the causes, consequences, and costs associated with lone parenthood and its consequences.

  • Family Demography and Health in Low- and Middle-income Countries: A Cyberseminar Series Exploring Family Change and Intergenerational Relationships

    Intergenerational relations involve the exchange of material, instrumental, and emotional support across the life course. Parents are sources of support to their children but can become recipients of support, especially ...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Southampton

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project does not directly address the causes, consequences, and costs associated with parental conflict and family breakdown, but it explores intergenerational relationships and support in low- and middle-income countries.

  • A Parenting Team?

    By five years old, 25% of children in the UK will have experienced the separation of their parents (Understanding Society 2018). It has traditionally been assumed by the public and courts of law that mothers should recei...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Cambridge

  • Keeping the Child in Mind? Family Functioning and Experiences of Shared Parenting After Separation

    By age five, 25% of children in the UK will have experienced their parents' separation, a risk factor for emotional and behavioural problems which have long-term personal and societal costs. Alongside managing emotions, ...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Edinburgh

  • Relationship quality and family transitions: The UK in international comparison

    In this project we will analyse couple relationship quality and how it is related to partnership formation, dissolution, and childbearing in the UK and across Europe. With our research we are able to follow both partners...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Southampton

  • Family Values: A Liberal Egalitarian Theory of the Family

    The research aims to provide an original philosophical account of the value of parent-child relationships ( the 'familial relationship goods' account) and to set out the implications of that account for a wide range of c...

    Funded by: AHRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Oxford

  • Partner Relationships, Residential Relocations and Housing in the Life Course

    Partner relationships, residential relocations and housing are crucial to people's well-being and are known to be connected with each other. Many aspects of this connection, however, have remained under-researched or une...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: University of St Andrews

  • Intergenerational relationships in contemporary UK

    Family and kinship have been of long-standing interest to social scientists and form the backdrop for the design of many policies, including social security, pensions, child care and personal care for the elderly. Our fo...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Oxford

Similar ARIs from other organisations

Early Years and Family Support: Provide the best start in life through high-quality early education and childcare to raise standards and help parents to work. How do we improve parental access to, and engagement with, family services? How do we improve connections and relationships between parents and professionals (e.g. through parental networks)? Department for Education, 2024
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