While
there may not be much difference
in a practical sense between
sole custody and joint legal
custody, there is a hell of
a difference between sole
physical custody and joint
physical custody!
What follows are papers published
on joint custody, primarily
theses because that is usually
the best source. I have started
with 1980 as a starting date
arbitrarily because that limits
it to about 30 titles.
Please note in considering
research in this area that
it is important to place more
trust on comparative studies
than descriptive studies.
There are a lot of subjective
conclusions made and comparison
studies, i.e. comparing same-age,
same-sex children from different
environments is less subjective
than just looking at children
from one environment and trying
to come to conclusions from
interviews.
The main research papers discussing
custody issues:
A. Luepnitz. Maternal, paternal
and joint custody: A study
of families after divorce.
Doctoral thesis 1980. State
University of New York at
Buffalo. UMI No. 80-27618.
Luepnitz studied single parent
custody and joint custody.
Most single parent children
were dissatisfied with the
amount of visitation they
had, whereas the children
of joint custody arrangements
seemed reasonably happy with
their exposure to both their
parents. The quality of the
parent-child relationship
was determined to be better
for joint custody. (The ncp-child
relationship is described
as more like an aunt or uncle
- child relationship.)
S.A. Nunan. Joint custody
versus single custody effects
on child development. Doctoral
thesis 1980. California School
of Professional Psychology,
Berkeley, UMI No. 81-10142
Nunan compared 20 joint custody
children (ages 7-11) with
20 age-matched children in
sole maternal custody. All
families were at least two
years after separation or
divorce. Joint custody children
were found to have higher
ego strengths, superego strengths
and self-esteem than the single
custody children. The joint
custody children were also
found to be less excitable
and less impatient than their
sole custody counterparts.
For children under four at
the time of separation the
differences were very small.
B. Welsh-Osga. The effects
of custody arrangements on
children of divorce. Doctoral
thesis 1981. University of
South Dakota. UMI No. 82-6914.
Welsh-Osga compared children
in intact families with joint
custody and single custody
families. Age range 4 1/2
to 10 years old. Children
from joint custody were found
to be more satisfied with
the time spent with both parents.
Parents in joint custody were
found to be more involved
with their children. (Joint
custody parents found to be
less overburdened by parenting
responsibilities than sole
custody parents.) Children
from all four groups (intact
families, sole maternal, sole
paternal, joint custody) were
found to be equally well adjusted
by their various standardized
measures.
D.B. Cowan. Mother Custody
versus Joint Custody: Children`s
parental Relationship and
Adjustment. Doctoral Thesis
1982. University of Washington.
UMI No. 82-18213. Cowan compared
20 joint custody and 20 sole
(maternal) custody families.
Children in joint physical
custody were rated as better
adjusted by their mothers
compared with children of
sole custody mothers. The
children`s perceptions in
sole custody situations correlated
with the amount of time spent
with their father! The more
time children from sole maternal
custody spent with their fathers,
the more accepting BOTH parents
were perceived to be, and
the more well-adjusted were
the children.
E.G. Pojman. Emotional Adjustment
of Boys in Sole and Joint
Custody compared with Adjustment
of Boys in Happy and Unhappy
Marriages. Doctoral thesis
1982. California Graduate
Institute. UMI No. ? Pojman
compared children in the age
range 5 to 13 years old. Boys
in joint custody were significantly
better adjusted than boys
in sole maternal custody.
Comparing boys in all groups,
boys in joint custody compared
very similarly to boys from
happy families.
E.B. Karp. Children`s adjustment
in joint and single custody:
An Empirical Study. Doctoral
thesis 1982. California school
of professional psychology,
Berkeley. UMI No. 83-6977.
Age range of children 5 to
12 years, studying early period
of separation or divorce.
Boys and girls in sole custody
situation had more negative
involvement with their parents
than in joint custody situation.
There was in increase reported
in sibling rivalry reported
for sole custody children
when visiting their father
(ncp). Girls in joint custody
reported to have significantly
higher self-esteem than girls
in sole custody.
D.A. Luepnitz. Child Custody:
A Study of Families after
Divorce. Lexington Books 1982.
A summary of the thesis in
book form.
J.A. Livingston. Children
after Divorce: A Psychosocial
analysis of the effects of
custody on self esteem. Doctoral
thesis 1983. University of
Vermont. UMI No. 83-26981.
Comparative study of children
in mother sole custody, father
sole custody, joint custody
with mother primary, joint
custody with father primary.
Children in joint custody
situations were found to be
better adjusted than children
in sole custody situations.
L.P. Noonan. Effects of long-tern
conflict on personality functioning
of children of divorce. Doctoral
thesis 1984. The Wright Institute
Graduate School of Psychology,
Berkeley. UMI No. 84-17931.
Long-term effects were studied
in joint custody, sole maternal
custody and intact families.
Children in joint custody
families were found to be
more active than in sole custody
families or intact families.
In low conflict situations
children did better (demonstrated
less withdrawal) than in either
sole custody or intact families.
V. Shiller. Joint and Maternal
Custody: The outcome for boys
aged 6-11 and their parents.
Doctoral thesis 1984. University
of Delaware. UMI No. 85-11219.
The thesis compares 20 boys
in joint custody with 20 matched
boys in sole maternal custody.
A number of tests were used.
Boys from a joint custody
environment were found to
be better adjusted than boys
from a sole custody environment.
Joint Custody and Shared Parenting.
(Collection of Papers) Published
by Bureau of National Affairs,
Association of Family and
Conciliation Courts. Ed. Jay
Folberg. 1984
M.R. Patrician. The effects
of legal child-custody status
on persuasion strategy choices
and communication goals of
fathers. Doctoral Thesis 1984.
University of San Francisco.
UMI No. 85-14995. 90 fathers
were questioned regarding
how unequal recognition of
parental rights might encourage
conflict. Joint legal custody
was found to encourage parental
cooperation and dis-courage
self-interest. Sole custody
in both custodial AND non-custodial
status encouraged punishment-oriented
persuasion strategies. Unequal
custody power was perceived
as inhibiting parental cooperation
by BOTH parents.
G.M. Bredefeld. Joint Custody
and Remarriage: its effects
on marital adjustment and
children. Doctoral Thesis.
California School of Professional
Psychology, Fresno. UMI No.
85-10926 Both sole and joint
custody children adjusted
well to the remarriage of
their parent; no significant
difference found between the
groups. The parents of joint
custody situations, however,
expressed more satisfaction
with their children and indicated
that they appreciated the
time alone with their new
spouse. Sole custody children
also reported seeing their
father less often after remarriage
of the mother; this did not
happen in joint custody situations.
B.H. Granite. An investigation
of the relationships among
self-concept, parental behaviors,
and the adjustment of children
in different living arrangements
following a marital separation
and/or divorce. Doctoral thesis
1985. University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia. UMI No. 85-23424.
Parents in sole custodial
homes (both maternal and paternal)
were perceived as using psychological
pressure techniques to control
children. e.g. inducing guilt.
However, in joint custody
homes, the perception of the
children was that such techniques
were seldom used. No difference
in self-concept was detectable
among the different homes.
Children`s ages 9-12 years.
15 joint, 15 maternal sole,
15 paternal sole.
S. Handley. The experience
of the child in sole and joint
custody. Doctoral thesis 1985.
California Graduate School
of Marriage and Family Therapy.
Joint custody children more
satisfied than sole custody
children.
S.M.H.Hanson. Healthy single
parent families. Family Relations
v.35, p.125-132, 1985. 21
joint custody and 21 sole
custody families compared.
Mothers in joint custody found
in better mental health. Mothers
with sole custody sons had
the least amount of social
support and mothers with joint
custody of sons had the most.
Joint custody mothers reported
best child-parent problem
solving of all.
S. A. Wolchik, S. L. Braver
and I.N. Sandler. J. of Clinical
Child Psych. Vol. 14, p.5-10,
1985. Self-esteem found higher
in children of joint custody.
Children in joint custody
report significantly more
positive experiences than
children of sole maternal
custody.
P. M. Raines. (Misplaced reference)
Paper describes a survey of
1,200+ children whose parents
are in process of divorcing.
Children wishing to live with
both parents given as a function
of age: under age 8, 90%;
age 8 - 10, 76%, age 10 -
12, 44%. 1985 paper.
J. Pearson and N. Thoennes.
The Judges Journal, Winter,
1986. Will this Divorced Woman
Receive Support? Your Custody
Decision may determine the
Answer. Child support compared
among sole custody and joint
custody. Joint custody shown
to produce much better compliance
in child support payments
to the mother.
J.S. Wallerstein and R. McKinnon.
Joint Custody and the Preschool
Child. Behavioral Sciences
and the Law, v.4, p.169-183,
1986. This paper presents
joint custody for young children
in a negative light, however,
it is based on descriptive
research not comparative research,
having no control or comparison
group.
E.E. Maccoby, R.H. Mnookin
and C.E. Depner. Post-divorce
families: Custodial arrangements
compared. American Association
of Science, Philadelphia.
May 1986. Mothers with joint
custody were found to be more
satisfied, when compared with
mothers in sole custody situation.
P. M. Raines. Joint custody
and the right to travel: legal
and psychological implications.
J. of Family Law, v. 24, 625-656,
1986
P. Neubauer. Reciprocal effects
of fathering on parent and
child. Men Growing Up. (1986)
J. Schaub. Joint Custodu After
Divorce: Views and Attitudes
of Mental Health Professionals
and Writers. Rutgers University,
Doctoral Thesis. 1986. No.
86-14559
V. Shiller. Joint versus maternal
families with latency age
boys: Parent characteristics
and child adjustment. American
Journal of Orthopsychiatry,
v. 56, p. 486-9, 1986. Interviews
with boys as well as with
both parents. Age group 6-11.
Found boys from joint custody
families better adjusted than
comparison group of boys from
sole maternal custody families.
M.B. Isaacs, G.H. Leon and
M. Kline. When is a parent
out of the picture? Different
custody, different perceptions.
Family Process, v.26, p.101-110,
1987. This study compares
children from five groups:
joint physical custody, joint-legal
maternal-physical, joint-legal
paternal-physical, sole maternal
and sole paternal custody.
On their measurement of how
children perceive the importance
of family members, sole custody
children were three times
mores likely to omit one parent
than joint custody situations.
F.S. Williams. Child Custody
and Parental Cooperation.
American Bar Assn, Family
Law, August 1987. Williams
studied high-conflict, high-risk
situations. He found that
children in sole custody (typically
but not exclusively maternal)
much more likely to be subject
to parental kidnapping and/or
physical harm. He found that
high-conflict families do
better and are more likely
to learn cooperative behavior
when given highly detailed
orders from the judge.
CRC Report: R-103A. Synopses
of Sole and Joint Custody
Studies. Shows that the preponderance
of research supports the presumption
that joint custody is in the
best interests of children.
1987.
A GOOD REVIEW PAPER: J.B.
Kelly. Longer term adjustment
in children of divorce: Converging
Findings and Implications
for Practice. Journal of Family
Psychology, v.2, p.112-140,
1988.
M. Zaslow. Sex Differences
in children`s response to
parental divorce. Paper 1.
Research methodology and postdivorce
family forms. American J.
of Orthopsychiatry. v.58,
355, 1988. Paper 2. Samples,
Variables, Ages and Sources.
Am. J. Orthopsychiatry, v.59,
p118, 1989.
J.S. Wallerstein and S. Blakeslee.
Second chances: Men, women
and children after divorce.
New York,Ticknor and Fields.
1989
M. Kline, J.M. Tschann, J.R.
Johnson and J.S. Wallerstein.
Children`s adjustment in joint
and sole custody families.
Developmental Psychology,
v. 25, p. 430-435, 1989. This
work finds that in non-conflicted
joint and sole custody families
there is little measurable
difference between a child`s
behavior in sole or joint
custody. (Strangely, this
paper states "Some quantitative
studies have found no differences
in symptomatology between
joint and sole custody children",
citing work by Luepnitz and
also Wolchik, Braver and Sandler.
However, Luepnitz pointed
out that joint custody children
retain a more normal parent-child
relationship than sole custody
children, Wolchik et al found
that joint custody children
have significantly more positive
experiences and higher self-esteem
than sole custody counter-parts!)
Lehrman paper Study of 90
children, equally divided
between joint physical, joint-legal
maternal, and sole maternal
custody. Sole custody children
shown to have greater self-hate
and perceived more rejection
from their fathers. Joint
physical and joint legal custody
children suffered fewer emotional
problems than sole custody
children. 1990 paper, have
mis-placed reference.
L.M.C. Bisnaire, P.Firestone
and D. Rynard. Factors associated
with academic achievement
in children following parent
separation. American J. of
Orthopsychiatry. v.60(1),
p.67-76, 1990 Visitation found
to be a most significant factor
in enabling children to maintain
pre-divorce academic standards.
J. Pearson and N. Thoennes.
Custody after divorce: Demographic
and attitudinal patterns.
American Journal of Orthopsychiatry,
v.60(2), p. 233-249, 1990.
Regular visitation shown to
be significant in a number
of factors explaining positive
adjustment patterns.
R.A. Warshak. The Custody
Revolution. 1992.
D. Popenoe, Associate Dean
for Social and Behavioral
Sciences of Rutgers University,
co-chairman of the Council
on Families in America. "The
Controversial Truth: Two-parent
Families are Better."
Published in Speak out for
Children, v.8 Winter 1992-3.
The Best Parent is Both Parents,
D.L. Levy, Hampton Roads Publishing
Co., Norfolk, Virginia. 1
(800) 677-8707. 1993.
Address for obtaining theses:
University Microfilms International,
300 North Zeeb Rd,
Ann Arbor,
MI 48106.
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