Children are arguing less and opening up more to parents according to a national study.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) have released the findings of their children's well-being study for 2018.

Focused on children aged 15 and under, the research presents a picture of how children are coping in a range of areas that matter to their quality of life.

Main findings included a drop in the proportion of children who argued more than once a week with their mother and an increase in the number of children who talked to their father about things that mattered to them.

This growth in children talking to fathers was driven largely by girls who reported an increase from 35.7pc in 2009/10 to 45.6pc in 2015/16.

This has meant that children's relationships with their fathers are now very similar for both boys and girls.

The study also found that the proportion of children reporting high levels of happiness with friends fell from 85.8pc in 2015 to 80.5pc in 2017 and the number of children who reported using social media sites for more than three hours on a school day had increased from 8.6pc to 12.8pc.

Dawn Snape from the Office for National Statistics, said: 'It's encouraging to see that among girls especially, family relationships are improving. However, children's happiness with their friends has seen a drop.

'These findings can help inform initiatives that are being adopted to reduce loneliness across all age groups in society.'