by MARINE DITTA
(Translated by Holden Ferry and reviewed by Henry Crapo)
Today, many couples who are either separated or in the process of separating are forced to live together out of material obligation. This phenomenon is becoming more common as the housing crisis spreads and it can cause psychological suffering.
“We were scared about the future, about losing our standard of living and maybe even becoming poor.” This account, obtained by Claude Martin, CNRS research director, as part of a study on couples who are “together but separated”, clearly illustrates the little-known problems that can arise from the breaking-up of some families.
While the divorce rate in France has been continually on the rise over the past 50 years (46.2% in 2010), more and more couples continue to live together after their separation, sometimes just temporarily, sometimes over a period of several years. These situations, which are both paradoxical and hard to quantify, are mainly due to financial and material constraints.
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