According to new research from The Marriage Foundation, divorced couples regret the impact their split has had on their children, but do not seek help with their relationship.
The survey – which was carried out by market research group OnePoll last month - surveyed 867 people who had gone through a divorce or separation. It found that one-third of divorced or separated couples confirmed that their main regret was the impact it had on their children.
Many reporting that their child’s emotional state, school performance or general behaviour had deteriorated following the split. The poll found that the vast majority of couples - 79 per cent – had not received any relationship counselling when they were having difficulties, with most thinking that it was too late to have any positive effect.
Other major regrets following a divorce or separation included financial consequences – which was reported by 24 per cent of those polled – and the way in which the divorce was conducted – which was reported by 21 per cent.
However, despite the regrets, the majority of respondents - 61 per cent - did not regret marrying or living with their partner, despite the eventual split. Twenty-four per cent of those surveyed said that they would like to change the way in which they split with their partner or spouse, confirming that they would increase communication levels with each other.
Founder and chairman of The Marriage Foundation, Sir Paul Coleridge, said: “This is really important and persuasive research…There is a level of ignorance about the availability of relationship education and counselling courses to help couples before the relationship has hit crisis level and when it has.
“If we are to do anything about confronting this huge problem in a constructive and meaningful way, the benefit of relationship education, before and during marriage, needs to be both appreciated and become the norm not the rare exception,” he added.