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Population Studies
A Journal of Demography
Volume 18, 1964 - Issue 2
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Original Articles

Some aspects of marriage breakdown in Britain during the last thirty years

Pages 147-163 | Published online: 09 Nov 2011
 

Abstract

Following the five-fold increase in divorce petitions during the Second World War, there has been much publicly expressed concern with marriage breakdown. The voluntary marriage guidance movement started just before the war and in recent years has greatly extended its activities with the object of reducing marital disharmony and reconciling estranged couples.Footnote1

The official history of the movement and an analysis of its activities has been compiled by J. H. Wallis (Training Officer of the National Marriage Guidance Council) and H. S. Booker under the title Marriage Counselling, 1958.

Some statutory authorities, such as the Probation Service, have also become increasingly concerned with resolving marital difficulties. Unfortunately the intimate character of such problems and, in some spheres, a reluctance to examine how far the existing legal requirements for divorce and lesser reliefs are based on twentieth-century matrimonial realities have discouraged research workers from undertaking representative inquiries into the circumstances of marital disharmony. However, an opportunity recently arose to include some questions on this topic in a wider socio-demographic study of marriage in Britain: this survey, initiated in 1959, was carried out by the Population Investigation Committee in collaboration with Social Surveys (Gallup Poll) Ltd. primarily with the object of examining some of the factors associated with the trend towards earlier marriage. But, at the suggestion and with the encouragement of the National Marriage Guidance Council, the scope of the survey was extended to include several questions; first, on preparations for, and adjustment to marriage; and, second, on pre-marital attitudes to divorce and on some of the circumstances in which cases of marital breakdown occurred. The former topics are the subject of an earlier paper; the latter, relating to marital difficulties, are considered here.

Acknowledgments. The research material considered in this paper was collected in a wide-ranging inquiry into marriage and family growth carried out by the Population Investigation Committee in collaboration with Social Surveys (Gallup Poll) Ltd. Professor D. V. Glass, Chairman of the Committee, initiated and directed the inquiry, and the fieldwork was carried out by Social Surveys Ltd. (Director: Dr. H. W. Durant). The headquarters staff of Social Surveys helped to draft and tested the questionnaire, drew the sample, and processed some of the preliminary results as well as organizing the interviewing. We are indebted to the Rockefeller Foundation whose financial grant made the inquiry possible and to the Oliver Bird and the Sir Halley Stewart Trusts for further financial aid. Mr. A. J. Brayshaw, General Secretary of the National Marriage Guidance Council, made himself responsible for approaching the Sir Halley Stewart Trust, and I am especially grateful to him, not only for this intervention, but also for his help in drafting the additional questions on marriage preparation and marital breakdown which the Trust's grant made it feasible to include in the study. Finally, I should like to put on record the debt of gratitude which the Population Investigation Committee owes to the 3,000 men and women who answered our numerous and sometimes intimate questions.

Acknowledgments. The research material considered in this paper was collected in a wide-ranging inquiry into marriage and family growth carried out by the Population Investigation Committee in collaboration with Social Surveys (Gallup Poll) Ltd. Professor D. V. Glass, Chairman of the Committee, initiated and directed the inquiry, and the fieldwork was carried out by Social Surveys Ltd. (Director: Dr. H. W. Durant). The headquarters staff of Social Surveys helped to draft and tested the questionnaire, drew the sample, and processed some of the preliminary results as well as organizing the interviewing. We are indebted to the Rockefeller Foundation whose financial grant made the inquiry possible and to the Oliver Bird and the Sir Halley Stewart Trusts for further financial aid. Mr. A. J. Brayshaw, General Secretary of the National Marriage Guidance Council, made himself responsible for approaching the Sir Halley Stewart Trust, and I am especially grateful to him, not only for this intervention, but also for his help in drafting the additional questions on marriage preparation and marital breakdown which the Trust's grant made it feasible to include in the study. Finally, I should like to put on record the debt of gratitude which the Population Investigation Committee owes to the 3,000 men and women who answered our numerous and sometimes intimate questions.

Notes

The official history of the movement and an analysis of its activities has been compiled by J. H. Wallis (Training Officer of the National Marriage Guidance Council) and H. S. Booker under the title Marriage Counselling, 1958.

Acknowledgments. The research material considered in this paper was collected in a wide-ranging inquiry into marriage and family growth carried out by the Population Investigation Committee in collaboration with Social Surveys (Gallup Poll) Ltd. Professor D. V. Glass, Chairman of the Committee, initiated and directed the inquiry, and the fieldwork was carried out by Social Surveys Ltd. (Director: Dr. H. W. Durant). The headquarters staff of Social Surveys helped to draft and tested the questionnaire, drew the sample, and processed some of the preliminary results as well as organizing the interviewing. We are indebted to the Rockefeller Foundation whose financial grant made the inquiry possible and to the Oliver Bird and the Sir Halley Stewart Trusts for further financial aid. Mr. A. J. Brayshaw, General Secretary of the National Marriage Guidance Council, made himself responsible for approaching the Sir Halley Stewart Trust, and I am especially grateful to him, not only for this intervention, but also for his help in drafting the additional questions on marriage preparation and marital breakdown which the Trust's grant made it feasible to include in the study. Finally, I should like to put on record the debt of gratitude which the Population Investigation Committee owes to the 3,000 men and women who answered our numerous and sometimes intimate questions.

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