Boys-only education 'leads to divorce'

Men who went to single-sex schools are more likely to be divorced by their early forties, according to research published yesterday.

Figures show 37 per cent of men from boys-only comprehensives are divorced by the time they reach the age of 42 - compared with just 28 per cent from co-educational schools.

A similar picture emerges from grammar schools, with 25 per cent of men from single-sex schools divorced by that age, compared with 20 per cent from mixed schools. Butschooling makes no difference to women's relationship prospects, the figures show.

The research, by London University Institute of Education's Centre for Longitudinal Studies, studied 13,000 youngsters born in the year 1958.

Dr Alice Sullivan, who conducted the research, said: "There does seem to be a picture of boys from single-sex schools finding it more difficult to sustain a relationship with the opposite sex."

However, the survey shows that schooling has no bearing on the likelihood of marriage, child-bearing, or how happy people feel in their relationships, according to their own assessments. Nor does it make a difference to the division of labour in the home, or attitudes towards women's work outside the home.