CHILDREN
LIKELY TO BE BETTER ADJUSTED IN JOINT VS SOLE CUSTODY ARRANGEMENTS IN MOST
CASES, ACCORDING TO REVIEW OF RESEARCH
Living
Situation Not As Influential As Time Spent With Parent
WASHINGTON -
Children from divorced families who either live with both parents at different
times or spend certain amounts of time with each parent are better adjusted in
most cases than children who live and interact with just one parent, according
to new research on custody arrangements and children's adjustment.
Psychologist
Robert Bauserman, Ph.D., of AIDS Administration/Department of Health and Mental
Hygiene in Baltimore, Maryland conducted a meta-analysis of 33 studies between
1982 to 1999 that examined 1,846 sole-custody and 814 joint-custody children.
The studies compared child adjustment in joint physical or joint legal custody
with sole-custody settings and 251 intact families. Joint custody was defined
as either physical custody - where a child spends equal or substantial amounts
of time with both parents or shared legal custody - where a child lives with
primarily one parent but both parents are involved in all aspects of the child's
life. This article will appear in the March issue of the Journal of Family
Psychology, published
by the American Psychological Association (APA).
Children in
joint custody arrangements had less behavior and emotional problems, had higher
self-esteem, better family relations and school performance than children in
sole custody arrangements. And these children were as well-adjusted as intact
family children on the same measures, said Bauserman, "probably because
joint custody provides the child with an opportunity to have ongoing contact
with both parents."
These findings
indicate that children do not actually need to be in a joint physical custody to show better adjustment but
just need to spend substantial time with both parents, especially with their fathers,
said Bauserman. Also, joint custody couples reported less conflict, possibly
because both parents could participate in their children's lives equally and
not spend the time arguing over childcare decisions. Unfortunately a perception
exists that joint custody is more harmful because it exposes children to
ongoing parental conflict. In fact, the studies in this review found that
sole-custody parents reported higher levels of conflict.
It is
important to recognize that the results do not support joint custody in all
situations. When one parent is abusive or neglectful or has a serious mental or
physical health problem, sole-custody with the other parent would clearly be
preferable, said Bauserman. The judges, lawyers, social workers, psychologists
and other professionals involved in divorce counseling and litigation should be
aware of these findings to make informed decisions of what environment is best
for a child in a custody situation.
Furthermore,
to address the question of how much the parents' emotional health compared with
the custody arrangement influenced the children's adjustment, Bauserman
explained that custody arrangement seemed to have more influence. By
statistically controlling for past parental conflict (which indicates parental
maladjustment), the joint custody children still were significantly better
adjusted. This result was also found in other studies cited in Bauserman's
review. More primary research is needed, said Bauserman, "on the past and
current adjustment of joint custody and sole custody parents before this
question can be completely answered."
Article: "Child Adjustment in
Joint-Custody Versus Sole-Custody Arrangements: A Meta-Analytic Review,"
Robert Bauserman, Ph.D., AIDS Administration/Department of Health and Mental
Hygiene; Journal of Family Psychology, Vol 16, No. 1.
Full text
of the article is
available from the APA Public Affairs Office or at http://www.apa.org/journals/releases/fam16191.pdf
Robert Bauserman,
PhD can be reached by
telephone at 410-767-4322
The
American Psychological Association (APA), in Washington, DC, is the largest
scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United
States and is the world's largest association of psychologists. APA's
membership includes more than 155,000 researchers, educators, clinicians,
consultants and students. Through its divisions in 53 subfields of psychology
and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations,
APA works to advance psychology as a science, as a profession and as a means of
promoting human welfare.
# # #
------------------------------------------------------------------------
© 2005
American Psychological Association
Office of
Public Affairs
750 First
Street, N.E. ¥ Washington, DC ¥ 20002-4242
Phone:
202-336-5700 ¥ TDD/TTY: 202-336-6123
Fax:
202-336-5708 ¥ E-mail
PsychNET¨ | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy