Reach for the Star | Why does divorce happen, and what changes afterwards?

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Distinguish separation from divorce, explain social causes and evaluate varied consequences through specific mechanisms. Use fictional examples. You do not need to disclose personal experiences.

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Recall and connect

Retrieve the previous lesson, then record a view you can revisit.

Missed the preparation? Read the recap

Why can cohabiting couples have different trajectories? Meanings, resources and later transitions differ even within the same current category. What is a selection effect? Differences may reflect who enters a group and their prior circumstances rather than the effect of group membership alone. Why is a statistical association not enough for a causal conclusion? Timing, rival explanations and a plausible mechanism must also be examined.

R1 Why can cohabiting couples have different trajectories?

Check an explanation after your attempt

Meanings, resources and later transitions differ even within the same current category.

R2 What is a selection effect?

Check an explanation after your attempt

Differences may reflect who enters a group and their prior circumstances rather than the effect of group membership alone.

R3 Starting judgement: “Divorce always produces the same consequences for every family.” Explain your view.

Measure the event correctly

Separation is a relationship transition; divorce is a legal event and can occur later. ONS records 105,002 divorces and 959 civil partnership dissolutions in England and Wales in 2025. Its opposite-sex divorce rate was 8.4 per 1,000 opposite-sex married people, below the 1993 peak of 14.2. The rate denominator changed from age 16+ in earlier years to 18+ in 2025, limiting exact comparison. These figures do not measure all relationship breakdown, including cohabiting separations. Court processing and legal change affect when events appear, so a count is not a direct measure of when dissatisfaction began.

Open the vocabulary reference

Separation: Partners ending their relationship or shared life; this need not involve a legal divorce.
Divorce: The legal ending of a marriage.
Dissolution: The legal ending of a civil partnership in this lesson's statistical comparison.
Divorce count: The number of legally ended marriages in a specified period and area.
Divorce rate: Divorce events relative to a specified married population and period.
Secularisation: A decline in religion's social influence, potentially affecting attitudes to separation.
Stigma: Social discredit attached to a characteristic, practice or status.
Economic independence: Access to resources that can reduce reliance on another person's income.
Relationship expectation: A belief about what a partnership should provide or involve.
Prior conflict: Disagreement or tension already present before a later transition.
Material consequence: An effect on income, housing, work or other tangible resources.
Care arrangement: The organisation of support and responsibilities for others.
Life-course transition: A change in arrangement within a person's continuing biography.
Mediation: A process through which an initial change affects a later outcome.
Confounding factor: A further variable that can help explain an apparent relationship.
Causal claim: An assertion that one factor produces a change in another.

D1 Why is separation not identical to divorce?

Check an explanation after your attempt

A relationship can end without marriage having existed, or before a legal divorce occurs. The social transition and legal event are distinct.

D2 Why does a divorce count not measure every relationship breakdown?

Check an explanation after your attempt

It excludes cohabiting separations and counts legal events in a period, which may follow an earlier separation.

Several causes may interact

Reduced stigma and secularisation may make ending an unsatisfactory marriage more socially acceptable. Access to independent income can make leaving materially possible, while expectations of emotional fulfilment can affect whether a relationship is continued. Law also changes the process: no-fault divorce took effect in England and Wales on 6 April 2022. It removed the need to assign blame through specified fault facts. A legal route does not establish why a particular relationship ended; intentions, constraints and prior conflict require separate evidence.

Open the vocabulary reference

Separation: Partners ending their relationship or shared life; this need not involve a legal divorce.
Divorce: The legal ending of a marriage.
Dissolution: The legal ending of a civil partnership in this lesson's statistical comparison.
Divorce count: The number of legally ended marriages in a specified period and area.
Divorce rate: Divorce events relative to a specified married population and period.
Secularisation: A decline in religion's social influence, potentially affecting attitudes to separation.
Stigma: Social discredit attached to a characteristic, practice or status.
Economic independence: Access to resources that can reduce reliance on another person's income.
Relationship expectation: A belief about what a partnership should provide or involve.
Prior conflict: Disagreement or tension already present before a later transition.
Material consequence: An effect on income, housing, work or other tangible resources.
Care arrangement: The organisation of support and responsibilities for others.
Life-course transition: A change in arrangement within a person's continuing biography.
Mediation: A process through which an initial change affects a later outcome.
Confounding factor: A further variable that can help explain an apparent relationship.
Causal claim: An assertion that one factor produces a change in another.

D3 Explain a link between independent income and the possibility of leaving.

Check an explanation after your attempt

Income may make separate accommodation and living expenses feasible. It changes options without proving that employment causes dissatisfaction or divorce.

D4 What does the 2022 legal change explain, and what does it leave open?

Check an explanation after your attempt

It changes the procedure for ending marriage in England and Wales. It does not by itself establish individuals' motives or the causes of relationship conflict.

Consequences need a mechanism

Consequences vary with what happened before, during and after separation. Maintaining two homes can reduce resources; conflict may continue or diminish; care may be reorganised across addresses. An outcome associated with divorce may partly reflect earlier conflict or economic disadvantage. Compare changes over time and the circumstances of families, rather than ranking forms. This lesson uses fictional cases only. Learners should analyse the supplied mechanisms without disclosing their own relationships or assuming a universal effect on children.

Open the vocabulary reference

Separation: Partners ending their relationship or shared life; this need not involve a legal divorce.
Divorce: The legal ending of a marriage.
Dissolution: The legal ending of a civil partnership in this lesson's statistical comparison.
Divorce count: The number of legally ended marriages in a specified period and area.
Divorce rate: Divorce events relative to a specified married population and period.
Secularisation: A decline in religion's social influence, potentially affecting attitudes to separation.
Stigma: Social discredit attached to a characteristic, practice or status.
Economic independence: Access to resources that can reduce reliance on another person's income.
Relationship expectation: A belief about what a partnership should provide or involve.
Prior conflict: Disagreement or tension already present before a later transition.
Material consequence: An effect on income, housing, work or other tangible resources.
Care arrangement: The organisation of support and responsibilities for others.
Life-course transition: A change in arrangement within a person's continuing biography.
Mediation: A process through which an initial change affects a later outcome.
Confounding factor: A further variable that can help explain an apparent relationship.
Causal claim: An assertion that one factor produces a change in another.

D5 How might prior conflict affect a causal claim about divorce and wellbeing?

Check an explanation after your attempt

Conflict may affect wellbeing before divorce and influence the decision to separate. Attributing every later difference to divorce alone would overlook that earlier process.

D6 Name two conditions that could change post-separation experiences.

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Accept explained conditions such as income, housing, continuing conflict, reliable care, support networks or access to services. Connect each to a possible mechanism rather than a universal outcome.

Apply the evidence

Fictional comparison: In the Vale case, adults separate after repeated disagreements. They organise predictable care across two nearby homes; day-to-day conflict becomes less frequent, although both budgets tighten. In the Hill case, a separation is followed by insecure housing and disputes about travel for care. A report labels both 'divorced families' and predicts identical experiences for everyone involved. These accounts illustrate mechanisms only; no learner is asked to discuss personal family circumstances.

Adults examining materials together; their relationships and reasons are not established. — Identify what is visible and what needs further evidence.

A1 Describe what is visible in the photograph. What further evidence would be needed to apply this lesson’s concepts?

Check an explanation after your attempt

Adults are examining materials together. The image does not establish family ties, beliefs, gender identity or the reasons for their actions. Use participant accounts or relevant contextual evidence before applying the theory.

A2 Explain one possible benefit and one cost in the Vale case.

Optional scaffold

Name the concept → select a precise case detail → explain the connection → state what the detail cannot establish. Rehearse aloud, then write independently.

Check an explanation after your attempt

Reduced conflict may improve daily experience, while maintaining two homes tightens budgets. The case allows different effects to coexist.

A3 Explain why the same legal label does not predict identical consequences.

Optional scaffold

Name the concept → select a precise case detail → explain the connection → state what the detail cannot establish. Rehearse aloud, then write independently.

Check an explanation after your attempt

The Hill case includes insecure housing and disputed travel, whereas Vale care is predictable. These conditions mediate experiences within a shared broad category.

Challenge and judge

Make a precise claim, connect it to evidence and state its limits.

C1 What research would strengthen an explanation of consequences?

Check an explanation after your attempt

A longitudinal comparison should examine prior conflict, resources and changes after separation. Include people's accounts and comparable cases; selection and unmeasured differences may remain.

C2 Improve: Divorce is the single cause of every later difficulty.

Optional scaffold

Name the concept → select a precise case detail → explain the connection → state what the detail cannot establish. Rehearse aloud, then write independently.

Check an explanation after your attempt

Examine prior conditions and specific changes in resources, conflict and care. A legal event can be part of a process without being its sole cause.

Prove: retrieval check

Answer without notes, then check explanations. Retry after correcting insecure ideas. This is separate from the 15-mark mini-test.

Q1. Which meaning best fits separation? A decline in religion's social influence, potentially affecting attitudes to separation. Disagreement or tension already present before a later transition. Partners ending their relationship or shared life; this need not involve a legal divorce.

Q2. Which meaning best fits divorce rate? Divorce events relative to a specified married population and period. Disagreement or tension already present before a later transition. A process through which an initial change affects a later outcome.

Q3. Which meaning best fits economic independence? A change in arrangement within a person's continuing biography. Access to resources that can reduce reliance on another person's income. Partners ending their relationship or shared life; this need not involve a legal divorce.

Q4. Which meaning best fits material consequence? An assertion that one factor produces a change in another. The number of legally ended marriages in a specified period and area. An effect on income, housing, work or other tangible resources.

Q5. If conflict existed before separation, can every later difficulty be attributed to divorce alone? Yes: the legal status explains all differences. No: prior conflict and changing circumstances must be examined. The question can be answered from a person’s appearance alone.

Q6. What can the supplied fictional case establish? It illustrates a mechanism to examine with further evidence. It proves what all UK families do. It establishes a causal law without further evidence.

Not marked.

Prove and improve

Complete retrieval, then write independently for eight minutes.

P1 Explain two reasons why the consequences of divorce may vary between families. [6 marks]

Success criteria

Develop two distinct points. For each, identify the concept, explain how it works and use an accurate example or comparison relevant to the question. Extended writing needs teacher review. No automatic mark is given.

P2 Identify the two points in your response. Improve one missing explanation or example.

P3 Return to R3. Give a qualified judgement and identify one piece of evidence still needed.

Prepare for Lesson 21

Read the three short passages and answer the preparation questions.

Law and recognition are distinct

The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 enabled same-sex marriage in England and Wales, where the first marriages took place on 29 March 2014. Same-sex civil partnerships had provided an earlier registered status. Legal recognition changes the options available and the public status of relationships. It does not mean those relationships first existed when the law changed, nor that approval or treatment instantly became uniform. Dates and jurisdictions matter: England and Wales should not be relabelled as the whole UK.

Two connected concepts

Legal recognition: Acknowledgement of a relationship or status through law. Social recognition: Acknowledgement or acceptance of a relationship in everyday social settings.

A question to bring

Distinguish legal recognition from social recognition. Legal recognition concerns status in law; social recognition concerns acknowledgement and treatment in everyday settings. They can change at different rates.

F1 Summarise the main idea in the first passage in one or two sentences.

Check an explanation after your attempt

Legal recognition concerns status in law; social recognition concerns acknowledgement and treatment in everyday settings. They can change at different rates.

F2 Define legal recognition and give an original fictional example.

F3 What evidence would you need to test the opening claim? Retrieve two current-lesson concepts tomorrow and next week.

Your progress summary

Completion records attempts, not correctness. Review your extended response with a teacher and use the feedback to choose your next practice.

Restore a backup

Choose a previously exported L020 JSON file. You will be asked before it replaces current answers.

Resource: RFTS-AQA-AL-SOC-7192-FAM-L020 · v1.0. Original Reach for the Star learning resource. The six-mark task is a classroom bridge assessment, not an official AQA Paper 2 format. Teacher mark guidance is supplied separately.