A British team of social scientists studying a sharp increase in teenagers with conduct problems concludes that higher delinquency levels are not the fault of single parents.

Since 1982, more British adolescents are fighting, lying, stealing, and being disobedient to adults. The new study from the Nuffield Foundation shows that the rates of delinquency are similar for teens from all kinds of families regardless of income or size. Teens with single parents or stepparents fared the same as those from traditional families.

According to the Office of National Statistics, by the year 2014 fewer than half the couples in Britain will be married.

This study appears in Social Science and Medicine.

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Labels: delinquents, disobedience, single_parents