Posted on: Sunday, April 7, 2002
Joint custody best after divorce, new study finds
By Karen S. Peterson
USA Today
Children in divorced families tend to do better in joint custody — either physical or legal — than those who live and interact with just one parent, says a major new study.
Children in joint-custody settings have fewer behavioral and emotional problems, have higher self-esteem, better family relations and better school performance than children in sole custody, says the report in the March issue of the Journal of Family Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association.
That does not mean that those in sole custody are "clinically maladjusted or need some kind of therapy," says researcher and psychologist Robert Bauserman of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. "It just means they don't do as well on average."
The newest findings are the latest salvo in an ongoing dispute over what is the best arrangement for the children of divorce. This meta-analysis, or scientific study of studies, comes down solidly in favor of both parents sharing all aspects of a child's life, as long as both are capable parents.
The study defines joint custody as either physical custody, in which the youngster spends time with each parent, or shared legal custody, in which the child lives with one parent but both share decision-making and stay involved. This keeps the father in the loop, which helps a child adjust to parental divorce, experts say.
Bauserman found that the bulk of the 33 studies he looked at show that children in joint-custody arrangements are virtually as well adjusted as those in the intact families, "probably because joint custody provides the child with an opportunity to have ongoing contact with both parents."
These findings contradict experts who believe that joint custody disrupts the stability of a child's life, shifting back and forth between parents, or that it exposes the child to two parents who endlessly bicker.
To the contrary, Bauserman speculates that parents who contain their anger at the time of the divorce may self-select into joint custody.
They are quite capable of continuing to parent together without a lot of rancor, Bauserman says. It is the sole-custody parents who report continued high levels of conflict over parenting decisions with ex-partners.
