Joint Physical Custody and Communication with Parents: A Cross-National Study of Children in 36 Western Countries

• Published in: Journal of Comparative Family Studies
• Main Authors: Bjarnason, Thoroddur, Amarsson, Arsaell M
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: University of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) 2011
• Subjects: Iceland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/jcfs.42.6.871; https://utpjournals.press/doi/pdf/10.3138/jcfs.42.6.871

An increasing number of divorced parents in Western countries have joint physical custody of their children. A comparative study of children in 36 European, Mediterranean, and North American countries found that 0–4% spend about half their time in two homes. Such arrangements were virtually unknown in many Southern and Eastern European countries while they were more common than single father households in Belgium, Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden. Impaired communication with both mother and father was significantly less likely in joint physical custody than in other non-intact families. Impaired communication with mother was equally prevalent in intact families and joint physical custody families while impaired communication with father was in fact less prevalent in joint physical custody than intact families.