Sharing roles, sharing custody? Couples’ characteristics and children's living arrangements at separation

Abstract

This article examines children's living arrangements when parents separate, during a period of rapid increase in shared physical custody in the 1990s. With prospective data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (N= 758 families) and a sample of families experiencing parental separation between successive survey cycles, we use multinomial logistic regression techniques to explore how characteristics of parents in intact families (mother's employment, income, and so on) influence physical custody outcomes at separation. Findings indicate that although the way couples share roles while living together has a strong influence on how they divide responsibilities when they separate, other factors also have important roles to play.