A recent research project in America has found that a 'good divorce' is almost impossible to achieve, in terms of the impact divorce has on children, reports the Daily Mail.

The study from Pennsylvania State University looked at three groups of divorcing parents:

• co-operative parents, who remained amicable after the divorce and shared childcare i.e. parents whose divorce would traditionally have been referred to as 'good'
• parallel parents, who shared childcare but did not talk to each other
• single parents, where the non-custodial parent had limited contact with their children.

The study found that although children of 'co-operative' divorced parents had fewer behavioural issues, children from all groups had similar problems with levels of self-esteem, life-satisfaction and experimenting with addictive substances.

The results were similar regardless of whether the parents had been married or cohabiting before the end of their relationships.

The researchers have called on divorcing parents to do more to protect children from the negative impacts of divorce.