ABSTRACT
Lack of parental affection, even when accompanied by dutiful observance of parental responsibilities, has a very profound effect in unsettling a child. The effects on the children of breaking or broken homes are not, of course, automatic. They depend a great deal on the ages of the children. In view of the fact that sound marriage is generally admitted to be basic in human welfare, both individual and collective, it might have been expected, quite reasonably, that English law on breaking marriages would have been thoroughly overhauled to bring it into line with modern thought. Where parents are living with their children, but are quarrelling and producing an atmosphere of hostility in the home, the consequences to the children may vary from bad work in school to actual delinquency, either in the home or outside. Families had been broken up, divorce flourished, and bigamy was almost a national industry.’
