Chapter 13is measured by whether your level of conflict is above the
median.
To interpret the analysis we can examine the first row of
the table. This says that
Emotional health at 16 = −0.08 High conflict
−0.01 Separated
+0.03 High conflict and separated
In other words, if your parents have high conflict but they
separate, your emotional health is improved when they sep-
arate by 0.02 points (i.e., 0.03−0.01).
However in the table the interaction term though gener-
ally positive is never big enough to be significantly different
from zero, given our sample size. It does however confirm
an important point that also emerges from the previous ta-
bles. This is that children whose parents have high conflict
and separate are always worse off emotionally than children
whose parents have no conflict and stay together.
Conclusion
In a British survey, teenagers and parents were asked whether
they agreed with the statement “Parents getting on well is
one of the most important factors in raising happy chil-
dren.” Seven in ten of the teenagers agreed but only a third
of the parents did so.^7
Our analysis suggests the teenagers were right. But if they
were right about their well- being, they would have been