Divorcing parents are often in denial about the effect of their break-up on their children, according to a new UK survey.

The survey of adults and children who have experienced a divorce found that youngsters are far more likely to have seen their parents fighting than the adults realised, the Daily Telegraph reports.

Children were also more than twice as likely to blame themselves for the end of their parents’ relationship as the adults were to notice that they thought this.  

According to the survey, conducted by parenting website Netmums, 80pc of parents polled thought their children had “coped well” with the break-up – a sentiment shared by only a third of children themselves.

One thousand parents and one hundred children were surveyed.

However, less than a fifth of the children surveyed said they were happy that their parents were no longer together and a third described themselves as still being “devastated” about it.

Siobhan Freegard, founder of Netmums, said: “Divorce may be a little word but it has a huge effect.

“It is estimated that one in three children see their parents separate before the age of 16.”

She added: “To flourish, children need security and while we will never see a society free from break ups, we should be investing more time, more care and more money into making sure our youngsters have all the support they need to get through this difficult time.”